


I am Here

by alittleliar



Category: Kuroko no Basuke | Kuroko's Basketball
Genre: AU, Gen, Ghosts, but he might be lonely yeah, in which Kuroko is a strong independent ghost, who don't need no man
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-02-26
Updated: 2016-05-26
Packaged: 2017-12-03 15:44:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 11
Words: 43,580
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/699896
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/alittleliar/pseuds/alittleliar
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>'A lone boy stands listlessly in front of a gravestone, his silent tears mixing with the rain.' AU. In which Kuroko Tetsuya really is a ghost, and Kagami is the only one who can see him. Of course, haunting ensues.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. prologue

**Author's Note:**

> Yeah I don't know.  
> You can also see it here: http://www.fanfiction.net/s/8460836/1/I-am-Here

'There had been rumours surrounding the old outdoor basketball court in the far side of the park. At night, when the moon was up, sounds of a ball dribbling across the court, hitting the old, faded black square of the creaking backboard, and occasionally swishing through the threadbare net could be heard. They were the normal sounds of a person practicing street ball, and so people hadn't thought much of the occurrence, strange that it may be for someone to practice in the middle of the night. But, when you approached the dimly lit court, expecting to see someone there, your eyes would encounter nothing, and the sound would abruptly stop as the temperature dropped sharply. A cold breath would just touch the back of your neck, and as you turned around in surprise and terror, you would see nothing. But when you turned back again….'

A soft, childish voice whispered into his ear. "Hey…let's play…"

Kagami screamed, his voice uncharacteristically high pitched and shrill. Izuki fell back clutching his stomach, unable to control his laughter at the sight of the team's ace curling up into the fetal position, shaking in fear. Hyuuga simply raised an eyebrow at the display, pretending the story hadn't affected him, but his heart was thumping loudly. Though he didn't want to admit it, that story had been freaking scary. And the way Izuki had delivered the last line had been bone chilling. Glancing at the other team members, he was secretly glad to note he wasn't the only one, the first years plus Tsuchida had all clustered together in a dog pile in their fear, Mitobe's expression was frozen in his face, and even the cheery Koga's smile seemed strained.

The only one who truly didn't seem to be affected was Riko (actually, when had she gotten here?), who looked thoughtfully at the laughing Izuki. "Yeah, I've heard that rumor too."

The team as a whole froze. Hyuuga stared in horror at her. "What? It's not just a story? What?"

The coach shook her head. "I suppose it could be considered an urban legend. Recently there've been stories of how you can hear a person playing basketball at the old park near Seirin, but no-one's ever been seen."

Hyuuga could begin to hear Kagami's teeth chattering.

Izuki wiped the tears of laughter from his face. "Don't worry, don't worry. It's probably just some shy kid practicing basketball who doesn't want to be seen. It makes for a good ghost story though."

Riko nodded emphatically. "Yeah….unless." Her thoughtful expression gave way to a threatening leer hidden by an angelic smile. "We wanna go check?"

Hyuuga could feel the shiver that went up the team's spine. "NOOOOO!"

"Then stop wasting time and get back to practice! Honestly, I expected you to be training hard when I got back, not exchanging horror stories! Three times the training, everyone!"

"YES MA'AM!"

 

* * *

 

Kagami groaned as he trudged back home, his legs feeling especially tender. He wasn't the weakest of the group, but today's training had wasted even him. He didn't even want to think about how the other first years were handling it. Yawning, he stretched his arms as he passed by a lit streetlight illuminating the dark alleyway.

Thump….Thump.

Kagami stopped. That sound…that was the sound of a basketball. 'Someone must be practicing outside in the park at this late hour. Haa…brings back memories with Tatsuya.'

'Huh? This situation…sounds familiar.'

The red headed teenager suddenly froze. His eye twitched as he slowly turned to stare horrified as his location. He was right next to the entrance of the park. And on the other side was the old outdoor basketball court, where the child ghost played all alone, waiting for someone to come so he could play with them, so they could join him in his eternal unrest, so that he's never be lonely again….

Kagami violently shook his head, trying vainly to stop his ever present teeth chattering. The ghost story hadn't been true. Not at all. Izuki himself had admitted so, there was NO GHOST in the old basketball court in the park. It was probably just a shy kid, like he'd said. Right. And since it was a real person, and not a ghost, it would be no problem at all to just calmly walk in, have a good look at the kid (to make sure he was very much alive) and walk out.

Because there was no such thing as ghosts. (and he needed to firmly convince himself of this)

With a shuddering, bracing breath, he took his first step into the park.

 

* * *

 

It was empty.

The court was freaking empty.

Kagami felt his mouth form a strained grin as his eye twitched. Taking deep breaths, he forced himself to calm down. 'Just because I can't see anyone doesn't mean they're not there, the kid's probably hiding or something.'

"Hello…? Is there…anyone there?" He couldn't help but notice his voice had broken at the end.

A sigh, too loud to be from the wind.

Kagami whipped around, his eyes are large as golf balls, but there was nothing. Feeling his knees beginning to shake, he bolted for the gate. 'Screw this, I don't need to prove myself. I don't care whether this is a real ghost or a prank, I'm outta here. Pride? What pride?'

He only made it four steps before he found himself falling.

'Eh?'

Picking himself off the floor, ignoring the graze on the elbows, the red head turned to stare behind him. What had he tripped over?

"…Ow…"

Kagami let out another unmanly squeak as he scrambled backwards on his hands and knees, unable to take his eyes off the...the…ghost?

Where there had been empty space before was a pale boy crouching on one knee, one hand massaging a small bump on the side of his light blue haired head. He was dressed in some kind of white school uniform, muddied at the elbows and knees with the tie loosened. A lone basketball rolled listlessly next to him. Kagami felt the breath leave his lungs as the figure slowly turned to face him and stare unwaveringly with expressionless, unreadable ice blue eyes.

They stared in silence for a while, Kagami being unable to inhale the breath needed for another scream, before the ice blue eyes blinked. A soft, monotone voice tinged with surprise left his lips. "You..can..touch me? You can see me?" He staggered to his feet, swaying for a bit before stepping towards the fallen redhead.

It was only until Kagami noticed the basketball had rolled towards the boy's feet, and hadn't stopped rolling until it had rolled straight through the blue haired boy's leg, that he managed to regain the energy to jump to his feet and hightail it out of there, not once looking back.


	2. i was bored

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It was just a dream.

It was just a dream.

That whole encounter had been nothing but something his overactive imagination had cooked up after Izuki's gloriously horrifying story. After the practice, he had gone straight home, showered and fallen into a deep sleep, and his memory had just muddled reality with dreams after he had woken up, dazed, in the morning. That MUST have been what had happened, no doubt about it. After all, ghosts didn't truly exist…right?

Even so, that morning he took the longer route to school, the one that didn't pass by the park. And though ultimately he was late (due to getting lost, having his path crossed by a terrifying chihuahua out for his blood, and then helping a old lady across the road), not one part of him regretted his decision.

Although…

Facedown on his desk with his arms covering his head in a tired gesture, Kagami groaned. It was way too early in the morning to get another detention. And if it clashed with training (like it had last week), then he would get killed by the coach, or at least traumatisingly maimed.

"Tough day today?"

Kagami sighed and raised his head. "Yeah…woke up from some crazy dream and then had a horrible morning, I don't know if I ca-"

He froze as he opened his eyes to see a pair of ice blue staring back.

_Eh?_

The blue haired boy tilted his head in greeting. "Good morning, Kagami-kun."

_Realisation in 3…2…1…_

"GAAHHHHHHH!"

 

* * *

 

The classroom as a whole jumped as the door was violently slammed openwith a shuddering bang. A demon wearing the skin of a second-year girl stalked into the room, searching for her prey.

" _..Ka…ga…mi…..I heard you managed to get detention today~"_

The classroom inhabitants flinched and shuffled to allow the girl and her ominous dark aura to pass through to Kagami's desk.

" _You aren't going to let this interfere with training…ri-"_

Riko Aida stopped and blinked at the sight of sight before her. The basketball team ace lay shaking on his side in the fetal position, with his broken desk lying face down beside him.

"Eh? Kagami-kun?" She turned to the nearest classmate. "What happened here?"

The boy flinched before realizing her terrifying aura had disappeared. "We're not too sure. He suddenly screamed "Gyah~" like a little girl, flipped his table, fell backwards from his chair and used the momentum to curl himself into a ball. He's been like that for the last three minutes." He turned back to stare appraisingly at his red headed classmate. "I must say, it was an impressive display of speed."

Riko simply twitched her eye. Stepping gingerly over the shattered desk, she nudged the quivering human mess with her foot. "Kagami-kun, seriously, what's wrong?"

The red head turned his head to look up at her with his teary eyes. "Can't…can't you see it, coach?"

The girl raised an eyebrow. "See what?"

Kagami raised a shaky arm to point straight in front of him. "Him…can't anyone see him?"

She turned her head to look, before letting out an angry sigh and kicking the fallen boy in the knee. "Either you're head wasn't screwed on properly this morning, or you're trying to mess with me. Either way you need a good pounding."Riko glared at him threateningly.

"There's no one there, Ba-Kagami. You're pointing at empty space."

 

* * *

 

Kagami stared desolately at his huge lunch as he sat against the wall on the top of the school roof. For the first time in his life, he did not feel like eating.

' _What do I do in this kind of situation? How do I deal with…this?'_

"Are you really going to eat all of that?"

' _Maybe if I keep on ignoring him, he'll grow bored and go away. He can't keep this up, right?'_

"Hey, don't ignore me."

' _I can't see you~ I can't hear you~ There is no ghost…all there is in front of me is air~'_

"I know you can see me, Kagami-kun. Stop pretending I'm air."

" _How did he know my name? Don't tell me he's been stalking me. Uh…no. Ignore him. Air~ Its just air~ Now go and fly away from me like the air particles you are.'_

"Your name's pretty boldly labelled on your school bag, I haven't been stalking you."

' _Holy shit he can read minds.'_

"And no, I can't. It's just really easily to see what you're thinking about from your facial expressions."

Kagami felt his eye twitch. In a sudden movement, he shoved the large pile of hamburgers (aka lunch) to the side and flung himself to the floor into the dogeza position. With tears of desperation streaming down his face, he looked up to finally acknowledge the presence of the blue haired boy before him.

"Please, I'm begging you, stop haunting me, Mr Ghost. I'm really sorry I disturbed you at the park yesterday." He slammed his forehead to the ground. "Please forgive me! Please don't kill me!"

He waited in fearful anticipation before he felt a painful flick to the crown of his head. "Ow…what-" He looked up to see the expressionless stare of the ghost alarmingly close. The eyes blinked. An unintelligible sound escaped his lips as he scuttled backwards like a crab.

The blue haired boy remained in his crouched position as he observed the terrified (and at this point, rather pathetic) protagonist a little longer. "Kagami-kun, I think there's something you need to understand: I'm not a scary ghost."

"You're a ghost! What part of that is not scary?"

The aforementioned ghost got to his feet, dusting his knees as he did so. "Actually, maybe you do understand."

"Huh?"

"Think about it, if you really were so terrified of me, you wouldn't be having this conversation with me in the first place. You would've just hightailed it out of here like last time."

' _Maybe I should do that again-'_

"And no, you can't. I locked the roof door."

' _!'_

The ghost-boy began to levitate gently into a comfortable sitting position. "The second thing I think you should understand, is that I'm not haunting you."

"You're following me everywhere, what part of that is not haunting?"

The boy cocked his head. "Well, I'm not haunting you for malicious reasons then."

Kagami felt his eye twitch again. That would need some really convincing explanations to disprove. "Then…why?"

The ghost did a slow flip in the air until he hung upside down, Kagami noticed that neither his tie nor hair seemed to fall downwards – gravity had no real effect on him at all. "Well…to put it simply…I was bored."

' _Hah?'_

Kagami felt a vein pop as he leapt to his feet and pointed an accusing figure at the floating boy before him. "You decided to bother me all morning and scare off about 30 years of my lifespan just because you were  _bored?_ "

The ghost scratched his head. "That sounds really bad, maybe I should rephrase. It'll be better to say that Iwas…lonely."

Kagami blinked as the usually emotionally blank face of the ghost turned slightly melancholy. "My first memory was waking up to find myself lying down in the middle of a basketball court. It was daytime. I was alone, and when I pulled myself up to find other people and figure out where I was, I realised that no-one could see me."

The boy floated gently downwards until he stood on the ground. Kagami realised for the first time how small he looked. Had he been a middle schooler?

"I called out to anyone and everyone, but they all ignored me. I tried to grab their arms, sometimes even tackle them, but I always passed right through them. You can imagine how distressing it must be for a memory-less person to realise that to the rest of the world, they don't exist."

The sun peaked from behind a cloud, and began to shine in earnest at the two boys. Only one of them cast a shadow.

"I don't know how much time has passed by then. Some nights I go to the park nearby and play basketball by myself – maybe it was something I enjoyed as a living person, but it's quite fun." He turned to look at the taller boy. "And then you came. You're the first person, ever, that can see me, hear me, and the only person I've ever been able to interact with."He cocked his head. "It's quite exciting."

' _You sure don't look excited. Your facial expressions never change, are they frozen or something?'_

"It's a personality quirk."

' _!'_

"Well, that's my story, I suppose. I've just…wanted to talk to someone for so long…I guess. I wanted proof…that I really existed."

An awkward silence descended between the two. Kagami scratched his head. "Now that you say it like that, I'd feel really bad asking you to leave-"

"Then don't." The ghost-boy stuck out a hand. "Let's be friends, Kagami-kun."

"Eh? Hey! Don't decide so easily!"

"Will you really leave me like this?" The boy's usually deadpan eyes suddenly took on a puppydog-like shine.

"Don't look at me like that! And was that story even true? It sounds more and more like some ploy to get me to agree with you now!"

"How rude. I just told you my entire life story, and this is what you think of it? I promise, it's 100% true. But, yes, I may be using it for my purposes."

"Geh!"Kagami made the mistake of looking too long at the glistening, shining blue puppy eyes. "…fine."

The edge of the ghost boy's mouth seemed to rise to a smug smile, but it was difficult to make out. He stuck out his hand again. "Nice to meet you, Kagami Taiga-kun. My name is Kuroko Tetsuya."

Kagami reluctantly reached out to grasp the smaller hand in a brief handshake. It was cold, as he had half expected. "…Wait a minute. Didn't you just say you don't have any memories?"

"Yes, I did."

"Then…"

"It was sewed onto the tag of my blazer." The boy reached back to pull it up from behind his neck. "See?"

'Ah.."

"By the way, there's something I've been wanting to ask."

"What?"

Kuroko pointed at the now forgotten magnificently large pile of hamburgers near the roof door. "Is that really all your lunch? Were you seriously planning on eating all of it?"

"Yeah."

"Can a single person really consume that much food? Are you some kind of monster?"

"I'm sorry, but I really don't want to hear that from an actual monster, thank you very much."

 

* * *

 

Hyuuga stared out the window at the strange scene at the top of the roof, the box of basketball game recordings ordered by Riko forgotten in his arms.  _'What on earth is Kagami doing by himself?'_


	3. i'm home

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The problem was that the aforementioned ghost had decided to stick with him all day.

Kagami felt his stomach growl as he trudged through his front door. Sighing, he leaned heavily against the wall as he slipped off his school shoes and stepped into his home. Today had been a nightmare. First off he had been confronted and then coerced into letting a ghost (A ghost. A GHOST. What was happening with his LIFE?) be his 'friend' (at this point in time, it seemed more like a bully-victim relationship. Where was his backbone?), and then the coach has decided that his detention shouldn't affect his training time in anyway whatsoever, and therefore forced him to stay behind longer than the rest of the team to make for the time lost.

Which would usually be okay, after all, he loved basketball more than anything else, and staying behind to improve his skills didn't seem so bad.

The problem was that the aforementioned ghost had decided to stick with him all day.

While the rest of the class had been listening to the teacher and studying quietly, Kagami had to deal with the antics of a curious boy-ghost invisible to all but him. After the meeting/confrontation on the roof, Kuroko had spent the rest of the school hours checking out every inch of the classroom, commenting out loud his blunt and honest observations as he did so. Try as he did, Kagami hadn't managed to completely ignore him, and developed a somewhat permanent twitch on his left eye, and well as managing to remember almost nothing he had learnt that day. It eventually cumulated into the red-headed protagonist snapping his pencil in half with one hand during the last period, unable to contain his shaking laughter at one monotonous comment involving the teacher's inherent baldness and the cleverly designed wig he wore to hide it.

He had come very close to another detention at that point.

After that had been absolute hell. The annoying ghost had decided to also follow him to basketball practice, where his curiosity and desire to meddle increased tenfold. It was hard to determine with Kuroko's expressionless face, but when the school gym had come into view, and the sounds of basketballs dribbling across the court and hitting the backboard reached the two, a somewhat excited look had shone on his face, and the ghost had proceeded to quickly float towards it, phasing through the walls.

Kagami had secretly hoped that would be the last he would see of him, but to no avail. When he had opened the doors into the indoor court, his heart had almost stopped at the sight of Kuroko somewhat happily dribbling a ball by himself in the corner.

Strangely enough the rest of the team didn't seem to notice the presence of a lone ball bouncing by itself in the desolate corner, too occupied with their practice games and training, and Kagami had breathed a sigh of relief.

If only that had been the last of his problems.

He hadn't been able to concentrate on practice at all that day, and the coach had made him pay heavily for it (20 laps…T.T). As much as he lived and breathed basketball, his shots and passes began to miss with increasing frequency as he found it harder and harder to ignore the ghost always floating around in his peripheral vision, dribbling across the empty court on the other side of the gym and using his ability of levitation to cheat and perform dunks _. 'How are the senpais not noticing this? Seriously.'_

Even now, lying on his back on the floor of his living room in exhaustion, he still remembered the terrifying visage of Coach Riko's widening smile that promised many laps and muscle pain.

Beside him, the root of all his problems began to somehow simultaneously walk and float about the room, taking in all the sights with his expressionless eyes.

"Wow, Kagami-kun. Your place is pretty nice and large, much better than I expected it to be."

' _What's with that casual insult?'_

Kuroko did a lazy somersault in the air as he enjoyed the view out the sliding window door that lead out to the balcony. The city lights were all alight, and made an erratic and colourful image of fake stars.

"No-one's here, do you live alone?"

"Uh, yeah. My dad was supposed to live with me, but he got called off to work."

"So you're fortunate enough to live alone in a large, expensive place. That really pisses me off for some reason."

' _You're really blunt, aren't you.'_

Sighing, Kagami slowly got to his feet. Stretching in a way reminiscent of a cat, he yawned before turning to glare pointedly at the currently upside down ghost levitating in the middle of his living room. "What was up with you today anyway? Does your concentration span only last three seconds? You were literally flying everywhere constantly!" He massaged his forehead as a particularly painful memory of a basketball slamming into his face due to loss of concentration on his part resurfaced. "I seriously couldn't concentrate on anything today due to you whizzing about everywhere and playing basketball  _right next to a group of people who are perfectly capable of turning their heads to see a ball bouncing by itself._ "

Kuroko frowned defensively. "But they didn't. I made sure that the only one who ever saw the ball moving was you, Kagami-kun."

' _Why does that sound like he was distracting me on purpose? Is he some kind of natural sadist?'_

"Besides, it's the first time I've ever been to a school. Naturally, I got a little excited."

Kagami blinked. "You've never explored a school before? I thought as a ghost you'd go exploring everything or something like that. I mean, you can go through walls and fly – there's nothing stopping you."

Kuroko shook his head. "Before I met Kagami-kun, I've only been able to venture about 300m from the park. Every time I tried to go further, it was like I got pulled back by some unknown force." He cocked his head to the side with a frown. "It literally feels like someone is pulling you by the cuff of your neck."

"And now those restrictions no longer affect you?"

The ghost scratched his head thoughtfully. "Now I'm able to explore within a circle of radius 800m with you as its centre. I think. I'm not too sure. I've been too busy exploring everything to have a proper look at my limits. "

' _Yeah, I noticed.'_

Kagami blinked.  _'Ah…that's right, I just remembered something I wanted to know.'_  An unpleasant frown appeared on his face as he pondered his next question.  _'I really don't want to ask him…but I'm curious.'_

"So then…as a ghost, what is the extent of your powers?"

"Hmm…" Kuroko did another flip before floating down to sit comfortably on the sofa. "Well, I can levitate and fly pretty easily to any height as long as I'm within the 300m limits- well I suppose it's expanded to 800m now. Also, generally I just phase through things, but if I concentrate hard enough, I can touch things. It takes a lot of concentration though, and I can generally only do it for seconds unless I practice." He began to slowly sink through the sofa until only his head was visible. "See?"

Kagami quickly turned his head to avoid the somewhat disturbing sight of the blue haired boy's seemingly decapitated head. "You were handling that basketball pretty easily before though."

"Well, like I said – I practiced. I'm currently only good with basketballs and books though. There was this old bookstore near the park I usually visited, but there were only a few books, and the selection was limited. And I stole a ball from a few kids who came to play one day."

' _What a criminal.'_

"And…" Kuroko's face crunched up slightly in concentration. Kagami raised an eyebrow, but then yelped as he felt his school bag slowly float towards the ceiling. A disbelieving look on his face, he turned to stare at the ghost.

"I can levitate things. It's harder than touching things though, but sometimes I can do it really well."

"Sometimes?"

"When I get really angry, or happy, or sad, I guess. Emotions help."

' _Hearing that from a face that never changes expression is kind of jarring.'_

"Hm…" Kuroko floated back up from the sofa and began moving towards the corridor and doors. "It's the first time I've been in someone's home. It's somewhat exciting."

Kagami glared at him. "Don't go exploring everything like some attention deficit monkey like you did in school. Stay her- HEY!"

The ghost ignored him and phased through the wall. His voice could still be heard through the poorly sound proofed walls however. "Wow, I suspected it before, but it's really true. Kagami-kun really is a basketball idiot."

Kagami blanched, quickly strode over and slammed open the door to his room, where the Kuroko floated, admiring the countless number of basketball posters in his rooms. A vein popping in his forehead, he placed one hand on the boy's head and pushed him down in a motion similar to a slam dunk.

"DON'T GO CASUALLY INVADING PEOPLE'S PRIVACY!"

 

* * *

 

The red headed boy sighed as he left the bathroom in fresh clothes and a tower around his neck, his hair still wet from the relaxing shower. Finally his body felt alive again from the death penalty of 'extra training' Coach Riko had given him.

It was no time to relax though. Despite his orders to Kuroko: 'don't levitate anything, don't touch anything, don't go through my stuff, and most importantly don't freak me out in the bathroom, I might actually slip and fall and die,' he doubted the ghost had bothered to follow them diligently.

He just hoped his room was still in one piece by the time he got there.

Slowly, cautiously, he turned the doorknob, swung the door open and peered inside. Nothing levitating? Check. Everything still in place? Check. No defacement of his posters? Check. But…

Kagami blinked. There was no sign of the light-blue haired boy anywhere. Raising an eyebrow as he dried his hair in one hand, he shrugged and stepped towards his desk. What would he know of the strange ghost's thought patterns; he had probably gotten bored and went out to explore the other rooms. Covering a tired yawn with a forearm, he reached towards the two necklaces left haphazardly on his desk after he'd taken them off to have his shower; the chain carrying the treasured ring given by Tatsuya, and the small, plain fish-shaped wooden lucky charm he'd been coerced into buying by an insistent market stall-owner a week ago. It was shaped like an ugly flounder with beady eyes, and looked uglier the more he looked at it. But well…good luck is good luck. He turned to sit on his bed as he reached up to attach them around his neck.

"…What are you doing, Kagami-kun?"

' _Eh?'_

"Please don't do that, you'll crush my legs."

An indescribable scream escaped the red head's lips and he threw himself off the bed and rolled across the floor before coming to a painful stop with the help of the bedroom wall. A somewhat surprised Kuroko comfortably sat cross-legged on the area of the bed where Kagami had been just about to sit down.

A vein popped on Kagami's forehead as he pointed accusingly at the ghost. "Don't scare me like that! And if you didn't want me to sit on you then don't sit there in the first place!"

Kuroko cocked his head, confused. "I've been here the whole time, Kagami-kun."

"' _I've been here the whole time, Kagami-kun'_  my ass! You clearly weren't in the room when I entered, do I look blind to you or something?"

A small thoughtful frown appeared on the blue-haired ghost's lips. "I'm telling the truth, Kagami-kun. I really have been here the entire time."

Kagami let go of the two necklaces in his hand to massage the sore spot where his forehead had met the wall. "Don't joke arou-Eh?"

The boy blinked. Where there had been the annoying sight of a blue-headed boy sitting on the bed before, was now nothing. He stared in silence at the sudden disappearance, before slowly looking down at the two necklaces lying innocently on the ground before him.

'… _Wait a minute…'_

Gingerly, he picked up the chain holding Tatsuya's gift with his thumb and forefinger, and looked up at the bed.

Nothing.

Carefully placing the ring and chain to the side, he stared suspiciously at the remaining wooden charm, before slowly reaching out to pick it up like he did with the other necklace.

"-kun, Kagami-kun, what are you doing?"

Kagami twitched, and let go of the necklace. The boy disappeared again, along with his voice. Thoughtfully he stared at the wooden charm once more, before a vein popped on his forehead and he abruptly stood up, grabbing the charm as he did so.

"IT WAS THISSSS!"

Ignoring the blue-headed boy who had suddenly appeared beside him, he wrenched open the bedroom window, preparing to hurl it out, before he was promptly tackled to the ground.

"GAH! Get off me!" Kagami struggled under the weight of the ghost quite calmly sitting on his back and putting his neck in a choke hold. In fact the weight was much too large to belong to a single vertically challenged student boy.  _(Note: This is simply the biased view of a ridiculously tall high school student. Kuroko is actually within the normal range)_   _'That bastard, he's using his freaky ghost powers to increase the force.'_

"No. Then Kagami-kun will throw the charm away."

' _I'm such an idiot, what am I doing? I can just let go of the charm right now.'_  Kagami released his hold on the offensive object and let it fall to the floor. Immediately his hold was released, and the red-haired boy leapt to his feet, turning around to see, as he had suspected, not even a sign of the other boy's presence.

Letting out a breath of relief, he massaged his sore neck with one hand as he considered the charm lying innocently on the floor.  _'Maybe I should use tweezers or chopsticks or something…'_

The room suddenly shook.

Kagami blinked.  _'An earthquake?'_

It was then, that Kagami experienced possibly the most frightening moment of his entire life.

The lights suddenly began to flicker on and off with increasing frequency before coming to a stop with an ominous click as the room was plunged into darkness. The red head felt his mouth dry and heart rate increase as he backed to the wall.

The window behind him slammed shut. Kagami jumped, but did not dare to turn around, because…

Well, because everything in his room save for his bed and desk had begun to levitate.

A single whimper left his lips, and he fell backwards on his rear as his legs finally failed to support his weight in their terror. His wide, horrified eyes couldn't tear themselves away from the sight of his red marker uncapping itself mid-air, and hovering towards the wall opposite him.

Slowly, red words began to write themselves.

" _Don't"_

" _Throw"_

" _It"_

" _Away"_

Instantly, the levitating objects dropped to the floor, and the lights flickered back on. The only proof of whatever had happened during the last few seconds were the uncapped red marker pen lying on the ground, Kagami's thundering heart, and the red words written in a shaky hand on the wall.

The red headed boy slowly blew out the breath he had been holding, and began trying to regain his wits. Shamefully, he wiped away the small traces of tears in his eyes, and cleared his throat. Standing up on his jelly-like legs, he slowly walked towards the small ugly flounder shaped wooden charm lying on the ground, and gingerly picked it up. Hesitantly, he considered the small object in his hand, before carefully untying the clasp and attaching it around his neck.

It only after that, that he turned to regard the small blue haired boy curled up with his arms around his legs leaning against the bedroom door, his face hidden in his arms.

"…I'm sorry, I shouldn't have done that." His voice was muffled and quiet.

Kagami sighed and walked towards the somewhat depressing figure, letting his back slide down the wall as he sat down next to him. "I honestly have no words for how terrifying that was."

"I'm sorry."

"I think my most likely cause of death might be cardiac arrest at this rate."

"I'm sorry."

"Nah…I'm sorry too. I shouldn't have tried to throw it out. It would've been a cruel thing to do. It was irrational and…selfish of me. I wasn't really thinking properly."

There was a brief silence. Kagami twiddled with his thumbs, before his companion spoke again.

"I…panicked."

Kuroko raised his head, but his bangs hid his eyes. "I didn't want to be alone again."

Kagami rubbed his forehead, before laying a hand on the blue haired head and ruffling the soft spikes.

"Yeah, I know…By the way, that wasn't the permanent marker, was it?"

"…"

The hand on Kuroko's head tightened considerably. "Oi…"

 

* * *

 

Kagami stared irritated at the words written in red marker on the white wallpaper of his room, a rag in one hand and a bottle of acetone in the other. He had spent the last two hours trying to remove them, and had only succeeded in smudging them to somehow make them look even more horrifying.

' _Why is it slowly looking more and more like smeared blood…'_

Sighing, he threw the rag into the laundry hamper and placed the bottle on his desk. ' _Maybe I should cover it with a picture or a poster…seriously, why am I the one cleaning this up? The culprit himself hasn't shown up-'_

Kagami scratched his head in silence. Ever since the conversation last night after his attempt to throw the charm away, the ghost boy had begun to avoid him, though he still stayed in the apartment. It was just small things like making sure they weren't in the same room in the same time, and keeping out of sight, but it was still a jarring difference from the invasive and unstoppable curiosity from yesterday.  _'Makes me wonder what's bothering him so much.'_

Surely his words couldn't have affected him that much?

" _It's just, now that we know that this charm is why I can see you, doesn't it open a lot more options?"_

"… _What do you mean?"_

_Kagami shrugged, "I don't know…it's just, wouldn't you be better off if I gave this charm to someone like a monk, or supernatural expert? They'd know what to do…" Kuroko suddenly turned to look at him intently. "to er…help you…move…on?"_

_The ghost blinked at him, his expression unreadable as always._

" _That is, what you want, right? I mean, isn't that what all ghosts want, generally…unless of course you're a malicious ghost who's just here to drag me down to hell...I'll just shut up now."_

_The bluehead turned away, his fingers slowly beginning to fidget. "…Not really…not yet."_

"… _please don't tell me you really are a malicious-"_

" _I'm not, idiot."_

_Kuroko lifted his head to rest it against the wall. "It's just…I have no memories, and very few experiences outside the park. I want to make some more memories before…before I leave…I guess. I'd feel cheated if I left without finding out what school was like, what a home feels like, what having a friend feels like. I haven't played basketball against another person yet either. I want to make more memories."_

"… _And gain back the ones you've lost, right?"_

"… _.yeah…I-I guess."_

_Kagami frowned. 'What's with that feeble answer?' He sighed, running his hand through his still wet hair._

" _But…it doesn't have to be specifically me, does it."_

_Kuroko blinked, and turned to stare at him. "What?"_

" _Anyone in contact with this weird flounder charm can see you, hear you, touch you, and the charm also allows you to move a larger range of area." He reached behind his neck to unclasp it from his neck and held it out to the blue haired boy beside him. "For all of those memories you want to occur, you need the charm, and anyone to be in contact with it. But not specifically me."_

_Kuroko stared at him with his expressionless eyes. "You don't want it?"_

_Kagami turned away. "…It's not that I dislike you or anything…it's just…I don't think I can handle this."_

_An awkward silence descended upon the two. Kagami did not dare to look back at the ghost, and his arm began to strain from the awkward position, waiting for Kuroko to take it from him._

_He never did. When the red head turned back to look, the ghost was gone, the charm in his hand untouched._

Kagami covered his face with one hand. Well, he had just ultimately rejected the bold offer of friendship presented to him at the top of the rooftop the other day, and…

' _Well, I suppose no matter how short the time spent was, it always hurts to lose a friend.'_

The red head stared at the horrifying remnant of Kuroko's 'red marker funtime', before sighing. Grabbing the tissue box, he pulled out a few sheets before reaching behind his neck to unclasp the string of the ugly flounder charm. He considered it briefly in his hand, studying the strange designs and charms written upon it, before laying it on the tissues and wrapping it. Stuffing his keys and wallet into his pocket, he carefully placed the makeshift tissue bag into an envelope and slipped it securely into a back pocket.

' _Like this, I'll never be able to see Kuroko again, I guess. It's sad for our last encounter to have ended like that, but…this needs to be done.'_

He strode into the corridor and into the living room, where the television quietly murmured the morning show.  _"Today's Oh Asa horoscope reveals an unlucky day for Leos! It's best to stay in and weather out the storm, but if you really have to go out today, don't forget your lucky charm!"_

' _I never turned it on…must've been Kuroko.'_ Sighing, he turned it off with the remote, checked nothing was amiss with the rest of the house, then finally walked out the apartment and locked the door.

If the charm had still been around his neck, he might have noticed the figure of a small, blue haired boy standing somewhat sadly beside him.

 

* * *

 

' _First stop is the market where I got the charm, I guess. What kind of person sells these kinds of things anyway? I knew something was wrong when he offered to sell it to me for a quarter of the original price…'_

Kagami grumbled his way up through the throng of people in the streets of the shopping district.  _'So many people today…maybe it wasn't such a good idea to go on a Saturday…'_

"Watch out!' Kagami started and looked up for the sudden voice from above, only to see a flowerpot hurtling straight down towards him.  _'What?'_  His body froze in shock, before his brain finally caught up, forcing his body to move, to run.

A millionth of a second later, the flowerpot shattered down behind his feet, the shards narrowly missing his legs. A woman from the 3rd floor balcony above screamed.  _'It's alright,'_ he wanted to tell her, _'I'm fine, no-one's hurt. Your flowerpot didn't kill anyone.'_

Minutes later, she was bowing repeatedly to him in apology, having barrelled down the stairs, but Kagami waved them away. He was perfectly fine. In fact, too perfectly fine.  _'I'm sure I moved too late to avoid the pot. Did I get faster? And how is it possible that none of the shards hit me? I was less than half a metre away from the impact.'_

Around him, murmurs of conversation could be heard.

"Wow! That was really close!"

"Is he alright?"

"That guy was really lucky."

"By the way, is it just me, or did that pot just…hover for a moment?"

"Eh?"

A blue haired boy wiped his forehead in the corner, invisible to all.

 

* * *

 

Kagami looked in delayed surprise at the stall-owner. The old man's eye twitched under the ceaseless stare of the shocked redhead.

"What is it, kid? Do I have something on my face?"

Kagami blinked, before scratching his head with an awkward laugh. "Ahahaha…um…it's just, I came to this stall before and bought something, but it seems today the person behind the stall is different. Do you have part-time workers helping you out?"

The old man frowned in confusion. "No, I tend to this stall alone. You sure you haven't confused it with another stall?"

"No…I'm very sure it was this one. You sure? The guy behind the counter I met that day was this high, had somewhat short hair, and wore a cap and sunglasses. Kind of good looking. You sure you don't know?"

"That's a really crap description – actually that person sounds really suspicious now, what kind of person wears a cap and shades in broad daylight?"

"Huh? I thought he looked cool."

The old man just stared at him with an expression that implied he was an idiot, before sighing angrily. "Anyway, I'm very positive I don't know him. Now shoo! I need customers, not brats bothering me about nothing!"

Kagami felt his eye twitch.  _'Don't harm the nice old man, Kagami, don't harm the nice old man.'_ Suddenly he blinked with realisation.

"Ah, wait!" Kagami removed the envelope from his back pocket, pulling out and unwrapping the tissue to reveal the wooden charm within, taking care not to directly touch any part of it. "This is what I bought, from him, from this stall. This was one of your wares, right?"

The old man sighed in annoyance, but he peered carefully at the wooden flounder charm anyway, before shaking his head. "Never seen it before. And I wouldn't sell such an ugly thing anyway."

Kagami's shoulders drooped. "Ah…I see, um, thanks."

The disgruntled old man made a shooing gesture with his hands, and so the red head left with a small bow.

 

* * *

 

' _So…a mysterious charm from an unknown source…charming...oh god I'm turning into Izuki-senpai.'_  He sighed, stuffing his hands into his pockets and began strolling through the alleyways.  _'I suppose the next stop would be the shrine…'_

"Arf! Arf!"

' _Arf? Huh?'_

Kagami stiffened. A lone terrier suddenly leapt out from the bushes and padded up towards him, tail wagging.

' _Ca-ca-calm down, Kagami. It's just one dog, if you just manage to get past it and then run for your life, you'll be fine.'_  Taking a deep breath, he cautiously began to edge around the happy puppy, not daring to lose eye-contact.  _'Nearly there…'_

"Woof! Woof! Grrr…."

' _Eh?'_

Kagami forced himself to turn his head, already fearing what he was going to find.  _'Don't tell me…'_

His breath escaped his lips in a whoosh, and he felt himself begin to shake. Before him stood a legion of around twenty neighbourhood dogs, ranging from the smallest breeds of Chihuahua to the great black Doberman growling fiercely at him.

' _Oh god no.'_

His legs were frozen to the ground, and his muscles refused to move. It was only until the great black beast took another step forward that his legs managed an attempt to step backwards, only for him to lose his footing and fall to the ground. His eyes widened as the Doberman leapt towards him and he instinctively covered his head with his arms. For an instant he felt the hot breath of the dog on his forearms, before-

Kagami blinked as he heard a high pitched whine, and looked up. All the dogs were suddenly whining and whimpering, their tails tucked beneath their legs. They lingered for a moment longer, before scampering away.

The redhead blinked, and slowly got to his feet.

'… _What was that?'_

 

* * *

 

The latest LCD television screen displayed in the high tech electronics store was unapologetically loud as it broadcasted reruns of the morning's horoscope show. Kagami walked quickly past it, wincing for the sake of his ears. Oh Asa's voice blared behind him as he walked away.

"Remember, today's a danger day for Leos! It's essential for you to have your lucky item with you today!

Don't forget! Today's lucky item for Leos is a good friend!"

 

* * *

 

Though he did say that technically he could give the necklace to anyone to kept Kuroko company, it felt too careless and cheap to randomly leave the charm somewhere obvious where anyone could find it, like on the sidewalk. That was why Kagami had decided to leave the charm at the local shrine, where either someone well versed in handling ghosts would find it, or at least someone who would care enough to be Kuroko's friend until his 'passing'. It was just a gut instinct, but he'd felt that if he left it at a shrine, a good person would pick it up.

The nearest shrine from Kagami's home was too far to walk to, and he was left with no choice but to use the underground subway. The time was nearing 1pm, and the redhead shivered at the thought of encountering 'Japanese Lunch Time Rush' once more. Once he caught sight of the main street, however, he realised it was too late.

'Japanese Lunch Time Rush' was here.

The crowd of people pushed against him as he struggled to get to the stairs that lead to the underground station.

' _I can't help but think Japan is amazing at times like these, I have the build of a basketball player and I'm still getting pushed around like a ragdoll…'_

Finally, he caught sight of the top of the stairs, and seeing, his chance, he made his way towards them, not looking carefully at where he was stepping.

If he had, he might have caught sight of the lone cola can that slipped under his foot, and avoided it wisely.

Kagami blinked as he suddenly found himself hurtling down the flight of stairs, down to his impending doom.

' _What? Huh? Eh?!'_

If he had enough time and breath, he might have cussed, but he only had the time to follow his instinct to cover his head and neck, and hope to any divine powers that he would survive this, and preferably not break anything essential.

Kagami closed his eyes in anticipation, his heart thundering away, for the impact that would come.  _'1 second, 2 seconds, 3 seconds, 4, seconds, 5 seconds…how long is this fall gonna take?'_

Confused, he peeked open one eye, and peered through the crack between his forearms. _'Eh?'_ He slowly lowered his arms and opened his eyes fully to stare down as his feet. He wasn't falling anymore, but his feet weren't touching the floor or any of the steps.

He was levitating. In mid air. Just above the last three bottom steps of the stairs he had just tripped down.

Slowly, gently, he was lowered down until his feet finally landed securely on the ground. Bystanders and passerbys ooh and ahhed at the miraculous landing, but he ignored all of them. With wide eyes, he looked blindly around himself, for the presence he knew was there.

"…Kuroko?"

 

* * *

 

Kagami sat tiredly on the subway bench, leaning back against the white, concrete wall. An unopened Pocari bottle he'd bought from one of the vending machines stood stoically next to him, its cold condensation dripping down like sweat. The red head laid his head again the wall behind him, looking up to the ceiling, before sighing and reaching down to remove the envelope from his back pocket. He slipped the tissue package into his hands, and gently picked up the necklace charm from within.

This time, he didn't hesitate to clasp it around his neck. The wooden charm hung comfortably against his throat next to Tatsuya's ring, and he finally picked up the Pocari bottle, uncapped it, and took a long, thirsty drink.

Beside him, an expressionless blue haired boy sat crosslegged, a somewhat embarrassed look in his eyes.

Kagami finished the drink and wiped his mouth. "Were you the one who made sure I avoided the flowerpot?"

"Yeah."

"You scared away the dogs."

"Yeah."

A brief silence descended upon the two, before Kagami coughed and scratched the back of his head. "…Thanks, I guess. You helped me a lot today."

"…You're welcome."

Another bout of silence began to impede the conversation, before a subway train rushed through the station in a roar. Kagami couldn't help but notice that the only reflection he could see against the shiny windows of the passing train was his.

"Why were you following me?"

Kuroko leaned forward to rest his chin against a hand. "Well, at first I was just annoyed about what you were doing, so I decided to prank and bother you along the way."

' _Geh!'_

"But…well, it didn't seem necessary after a while, considering all the dangerous things that were naturally happening to you today. Somehow I got stuck with the job of making sure you survived this little trip." The blue haired boy frowned. "Your luck today is terrible, did you anger a spirit or something?"

' _Is that counting you?'_

Kuroko uncrossed his legs and stood up to his full height. "Also…well, I suppose I just wanted to say goodbye, even if you couldn't see me." Kagami couldn't see his expression, but he supposed it wouldn't have mattered, the ghost's facial expressions rarely betrayed anything.

Kagami sighed and stood up as well, picking up the half full bottle of Pocari as he did so. He began to walk away, his pace slow and leisurely. "…Let's go."

Kuroko stared at his retreating figure. "Where?"

"Home, of course."

"…Weren't you going to the shrine?"

"…I changed my mind."

A small smile appeared on the ghost's lips, and he quickly floated over to walk alongside the taller teenager.

"…So I thought about it."

"About what?"

Kagami scratched his head. "You were talking about all the things you wanted to do yesterday, right?"

Kuroko simply looked up at him, before frowning in annoyance and floating up to eyelevel with the ridiculously tall teenager in order to relieve his neck of strain.

"I'll be that friend. I'll…help you make those precious memories you wanted, and have fun in this world a little longer, until the time comes when you'll move on."

The blue haired ghost stared at him with what could be considered shock (it was very difficult to tell with Kuroko) before a slight smile appeared on his lips. He held out his left fist towards the redhead.

Kagami stared at it for a second, before he grinned and held out his right fist.

Together, they exchanged the first fist bump of their friendship.

 

* * *

 

The blue haired boy quietly observed his new room, turning in a small half circle in curious wonder. From the thin layer of dust covering the furniture, it was clear it hadn't been used in a while, if not ever. The single bed took up a third of the area of the small room, next to it a small bedside table with an old fashioned lamp perched upon it. A walk in closet took up the whole of one wall.

After they had returned home, Kagami had proceeded to cook up a massive meal as he had missed lunch. Kuroko had worried for a bit that he was also cooking for him, which would be a wasted effort since he no longer had a real stomach or digestive system, but then realised that the redhead was planning to eat everything himself.

Sometimes Kagami's bottomless stomach scared him.

After the fascinating if not horrifying display of the redhead's ability to consume about ten times his own weight, Kagami had lead him to this spare room, announcing that from now on, it would be his.

" _Ghost's don't sleep, Kagami-kun"_  he had said. Kagami had simply rolled his eyes and walked out.  _"It's not just for sleeping, idiot. It's your room, do whatever you want."_

It was dusty, small, and clearly hadn't been planned for use as an actual bedroom, but…

Kuroko moved to sit down on the bed, before rolling over to lie there, curled on top of the bed sheets. His small hands spread across the soft fabric of the blanket, sometimes phasing slightly through them as his concentration wavered. A faint, secret smile appeared on his lips as he opened them to whisper to himself.

"Home…I'm home."

" _You'll be alone forever. You won't exist to anyone but yourself. You won't belong. Eventually you'll give in to the despair known as loneliness…"_

"You were wrong, you know. I belong." His hand moved to grasp the blanket in a determined fist.

"This is my home now."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Now I really want a Pocari Sweat.


	4. imposter

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> All humans must die  
> Leaving a scar  
> Like a memory  
> -Immortal Rain, Ozaki Kaori

Kagami blearily stared at the bathroom mirror as he methodically brushed his teeth. Spitting it out, he rinsed his mouth and splashed water onto his face, trying to wash away sleep with sheer cold. It didn't work. Sighing, he cupped more water into his mouth and began to gargle.

"Ah. Good morning Kagami-kun."

The red haired boy spat out a spray of water and began to choke as he stared in shock at the sudden appearance of the blue haired boy beside him. Kuroko raised an eyebrow at the somewhat disgusting display as the explosion of water and foam flew through him.

"Argh-kah-koff-what are you…I thought I told you not to do that!"

"Greeting you in the morning?"

"SCARING THE SHIT OUT OF ME IN THE BATHROOM!"

Kagami wiped his mouth with the towel and glared at his new flatmate as he strode past him in the corridor. "By the way, didn't you say ghosts don't sleep?"

"Indeed."

"Then what's up with that insane bedhead?"

Kuroko stared up in confusion, trying to catch sight of his hair as they entered Kagami's bedroom. "What bedhead?"

"Your hair! It's- just look in the mirror!" The red-head dragged the ghost by the scruff of the neck to the body length mirror hanging in the bedroom. "It's…huh?"

Kagami stared into the mirror. His reflection stared back in confusion, alone. Blinking, he looked down at his left hand, where Kuroko hung, looking much like a displeased cat.

"Could you put me down now?"

The taller boy complied, his mouth still gaping at the new found knowledge that his flatmate had no reflection.

Kuroko began to try and flatten his hair, with not much success. "It shouldn't be that surprising, Kagami-kun. Isn't it general knowledge that ghosts don't have a reflection?"

Kagami scratched his head, looking intently at the mirror. "It's one thing to think about it, it's another to experience it. There's something unnerving about seeing someone there right in front of you but not appearing the mirror." He blinked. "Wait, does that mean you don't even know what you look like?"

Kuroko finally gave up on his useless quest. "I get the general idea. I know the length and colour of my hair, that my skin is kind of pale, those kinds of things. But…" He reached up to pinch his own cheek. "I've never seen my face."

"Ah…I see." Kagami stared thoughtfully at the blue haired boy. "Well, you have eyes the same colour as your hair, and they're kind of creepy. You're facial expression also never changes, that's creepy as-"

Kagami closed his mouth promptly as he felt Kuroko stare at him, displeasure radiating from his eyes at the somewhat insulting description.

"Ah, what if we take a picture, then you could see yourself, right?"

Kuroko blinked at the suggestion. "That…could work. I've tried it once; though not many people have taken pictures in the park, there was this one couple who did, so I photo-bombed a few they took. Unfortunately I never managed to see the pictures." Kuroko thoughtfully cocked his head. "Come to think of it, they never came back to the park ever again."

Kagami fished for his cellphone in his schoolbag. "Eh…I wonder why…Aha!" He held out the flip-phone victoriously. Pushing a few buttons to get it to the camera setting, he waved his flatmate over. "Come on, a congratulations photo for finding out what you look like for the first time."

Kuroko expression radiated cautious hope. "You sure this will work?"

"Well, we'll never know if we don't try right?"

They leaned close, sporting awkward grins and victory signs. Kagami held the phone away from them and pressed the 'capture' button. "Cheese~"

"Okay, let's see-"

Kuroko looked on in wonder as an indescribable scream left the redhead's mouth as he flung the cell-phone away from him in terror. Sighing, he walked over to the miraculously intact device, concentrating to pick it up from the ground where it had fallen after almost shattering the mirror. He turned to regard his hyperventilating flatmate who was beginning to crawl into a ball. "Seriously, Kagami-kun, you get scared too easy." He flipped open the cellphone. "What could possibly be-"

Kuroko stared at the photo, unable to tear his eyes away from the sight. A grinning Kagami took up half of the photo, sporting half a victory sign; he'd only managed to photograph half of his hand.

The other half of the photo…

Kuroko felt himself execute a miniscule cringe. Next to Kagami was a ghostly black and white apparition, its features vague and not entirely humane. He couldn't make out much, but the murderous grin on the blurred figure was very prominent.

Instantly he deleted it.

Flipping it closed, he sat down with a somewhat depressed look upon his face. "That's…that's not how I look like to others…right?"

Kagami quickly shook his head, having somewhat recovered from his terrifying ordeal. "No way. If you really looked like that I'd definitely be dead by now from fright."

Kuroko flipped the phone back open and stared thoughtfully at the main menu display."…By the way, Kagami-kun."

"Hm?"

"What time does school begin?"

"8:45, why?"

"It's 8:30."

"SHIT!"

 

* * *

 

"I want a vanilla shake."

"That's nice."

"Buy me a vanilla shake, Kagami-kun."

"No."

"Please."

The ghost and the boy sat across the somewhat isolated table tucked in the corner of the burger restaurant. A huge stack of hamburgers lay piled like a toppled pyramid on the tray before the red head, who was rapidly gobbling them one at a time like a squirrel.

Kagami sighed, food still in his mouth. "Wh-"

Kuroko looked away in slight disgust, rising to comfortably float crosslegged above his chair. "Please don't speak with food in your mouth. It's disgusting."

The redhead glared, before taking a large swallow. "Why? You can't even eat anyway."

"You bring food and sake for your ancestors, right?"

Kagami glared at him. The ghost boy had surprisingly not followed him to school that morning, instead announcing that he would go explore the rest of the vicinities and find out his new physical limits. Kagami had been returning home exhausted from afternoon practice when he had come across the somewhat frightening view of the dead boy floating in front of Magi burger, staring longingly at the vanilla shake on the menu display. Somehow it had all escalated into them having their (well, his) dinner there. "Are you honestly just going to keep on bothering me until I get you one?"

"That's the plan, yes."

"It's a great plan, except for one minor detail: It isn't going to work." He took another bite off his current hamburger. "Why should I buy something that won't even be eaten?"

"You can eat it afterwards, can't you? "

"No, I refuse."

"Buy me this vanilla shake, Kagami-kun, and I'll get rid of the red marker stain on your bedroom wall."

 

* * *

 

*A few minutes later*

Kuroko floated a few centimetres above his chair, a glow of utter bliss somehow radiating from his usual expressionless face, doing nothing but staring transfixed at the tall glass of vanilla shake placed before him.

Kagami aggressively bit into his 12th hamburger. "So? Did you find out anything useful about your new boundaries today?"

The ghost boy cocked his head to the side, still staring surreptitiously at the vanilla shake as he answered the red head. "Well, finding my boundaries  _was_  my original plan…"

"You…got distracted, didn't you."

"Indeed." A faint smile appeared on his lips. "I used to think my world was limited to the park…but…it really is big, isn't it? So many different things…so many different people going about their varied lives and experiences...all making up this small part of this city." He reached out to grab his drink, frowning slightly as his hand phased slightly through the glass. "The world is large. I can't imagine it."

Kagami swallowed the last of his 15th burger and took a sip of his soda. "You don't have to. Before you know it, you'll have experienced so much that your world will be larger, brighter and more varied than you'll ever have wanted it to be. I'll guarantee it."

Kuroko stared at him. "…I always thought you were just a basketball idiot, but you sometimes you actually seem cool, Kagami-kun. It's amazing."

"Don't stealth insult me, I'll knock over your vanilla shake."

Kuroko protectively pulled in his precious drink towards him. "By the way, did you manage to get to school on time?" He watched as Kagami flinched, a cold chill seemingly settling on the red-head's shoulders.

"…I guess not."

The taller boy depressingly sipped at his drink, swallowing his 19th burger. "…the coach… _wasn't too happy_  about me getting another detention. "

"Ah…"

"Hmm, that reminds me." The blue chill seemed to instantly leave the red head as excitement took its place. "It looks like our basketball team is having our first practice match with Kaijou!"

"Kaijou?"

"Apparently one of the Generations of Miracles is in their team….uh I forgot his name...Kida Ryousuke?"

"What's the Generation of Miracles?"

"Eh…I don't really know much, but from what the upperclassmen tell me, there was this really strong team in Teihou...Teirou…Tei-something Middle School. The Generation of Miracles apparently were the regulars in that team…ah, that's right. Furihata gave me a magazine that did an article about them a year ago or something." He fished into the school bag lying haphazardly next to his chair, before pulling out a crumpled booklet and handing it to his floating companion.

"Hm…they must've been really strong if they managed to get such a powerful sounding epithet. I doubt they'd call any team the 'Generation of Miracles'." The ghost lazily spun upside-down as he flipped through the pages of magazine. A lone man on a nearby table stared astounded at the booklet levitating by itself before Kagami slammed it down back onto the table from the ghost's hands.

"Ahahahaha! Look at that! It got stuck on a giant cobweb! Wow! Amazing! Ahahaha…" Panicked laughter left Kagami's mouth as he glanced nervously at the other man until he looked back down towards his food, shaking his head in puzzlement.

A breath of relief left the red head, before he reached out to push the floating blue head back onto his chair by his head. A vein popped as he began to whisper angrily at the unrepentant ghost. "I thought I told you not to freaking do any of that stuff when people can see you! How am I going to explain things floating around to them when they see it right in front of their faces!"

"Eh, sorry. I just forgot." Kuroko's tone did not sound sorry at all as he turned a page on the open magazine now less suspiciously lying on the table. "And you got the names wrong, Kagami-kun. It's Kise Ryouta from Teikou Middle."

Kagami leaned back on his chair and took an angry bite off his 20th hamburger as he shrugged. "Eh…I knew it sounded a bit strange as I said it." He looked up to see Kuroko staring intently at the photos on the page before him. "…what's so interesting?"

The shorter boy blinked he turned the page. "Nothing, it's just…nothing really." He looked up, closing the magazine gently. "Only one of them went to Kaijou High, does that mean he split off from the rest? Or, did they decide not to stay together and split off into different schools or something?"

"All I know is from what the upperclassmen and the coach told me, but…" Kagami frowned and chewed thoughtfully on his 15th hamburger. "They all split up into different schools, I think...yeah. They're all probably playing in different teams." A sudden gleam appeared in his eyes. "That means we can face off against each and every one of the members, one on one."

Kuroko stared at him, unimpressed. "That's a…rare opinion. Most people would be worried by the level of their opponents."

Kagami simply grinned. "The match wouldn't be fun unless we had some kind of impossible challenge right? I'm getting excited just thinking about it!" A group of girls sitting at a nearby table stared at him strangely, and he flushed, lowering his voice. "Of course, it wouldn't really be that fun if we lost." A slow grin spread across his face. "That why, we won't."

 

* * *

 

"So in the end, you weren't able to sleep a wink last night because you were too excited. What are you, a pre-schooler excited for a field trip?"

Kagami twitched his bloodshot eyes that were ringed with tired black as he trudged past the bus stop to the Kaijou School gates getting ever closer. "Shuddup. You're too loud in the morning."

"It's noon, Kagami-kun. I think you need coffee." Kuroko floated beside him as he walked, his zen expression calm as always. He had come to watch the practice match, 'for support' he said. Judging by the aura of excitement radiating from the expressionless boy, Kagami personally thought he just wanted to watch for his own benefit.

"It's alright, I'll be fine after slapping myself a few times."

"Need help with that?"

"No, it's-"

"No I  _insist_."

"…Are you still mad about me accidently spilling your vanilla shake last night?" It had been a tragic affair. It was also the only time he had actually seen an actual expression on the normally blank face. Kagami didn't know if he wanted to see that look of horror and rage again in his lifetime.  
Kuroko didn't reply, instead somehow managing to convey a glare from his blank expression.

"Seriously? You weren't even drinking it! And besides, you haven't even kept to your side of the bargain yet; that red marker stain is still there!" In fact it had looked like it had somehow worsened, the smudge looking bigger and a brighter red. He suspected foul play.

"Bakagami!" Kagami jumped in surprise as the exasperated voice of Hyuuga Junpei in semi-clutch mode rang out behind him. "What are you doing muttering to yourself back there? You're falling behind!" The rest of the team stood behind him, all having paused in their walking to stare somewhat worriedly at their oddly acting teammate.

"Ah…yes!"

A small snicker made him whirl back to face the ghost boy biting his lip to repress another. "Bakagami?"

"Shut up, Kuroko."

"Kagami!"

"I'm coming!"

 

* * *

 

"Wow~"

Kagami only stared while Izuki-senpai whistled in appreciation at the large gym complex before them. Kaijou's sport and athletic facilities were nothing like Seirin's, just for the fact that it was larger, more varied, and well….larger.

Riko hmmed as she flipped through her phone while the rest of the team just gaped. "I'll have them send someone over, this place is too large for us to find the court and get there on time."

Hyuuga scratched his head. "I thought Seirin had impressive sports facilities as a new school, but this just takes the cake."

"Well, the energy they put in the sports clubs here is on a different level, I suppose."

"Excuse me!"

The team turned to meet a tall boy in a practice t-shirt and shorts jogging up towards them. "Excuse me, are you from Seirin High?"

Riko deleted her half written message and flipped her phone closed. "Yes, we were supposed to be meeting in the gym courts for our practice match…but…"

The boy let out a relieved smile. "Looks like I've found you at the perfect time. The coach sent me to get you guys. Ah, my name's Kobori Hiroshi, Pleased to meet you."

"Riko Aida. This is Hyuuga Junpei, our captain."

Kagami watched the exchange next to the other first years, who seemed to have crowded around something. Letting out another yawn, he stretched his arms, accidently stumbling into Kawahara behind him. "Ah sorry….wait what are you guys doing?" Looking closely, he realised that the first years were all crouched down in a circle around a ball of fur.

"Ah, we realised this little guy had been following us for some time now. From the looks of it, it's lost so we're trying to the owner's details on its collar."

' _Little guy? Collar?'_ Kagami stiffened as he began to realise what that little, white with black spots, wiggling ball of fur exactly was.

It was a puppy. A small, adorable puppy.

It was also (in Kagami's eyes) frickin terrifying.

Kuroko blinked in surprise as a screaming Kagami suddenly grabbed him and flung him between the trembling red-head and the puppy innocently wagging its tail. "Kagami-kun, what are you-" Kagami simply flinched when he realised the puppy has established eye contact with him, and had begun trotting its way towards him, tail wagging happily.

A silent scream leapt out his mouth as a cold chill settled on his shoulders.

Kuroko suddenly felt himself being shoved forwards by the no longer properly functioning red-head, towards the small puppy. His feet had tripped over themselves somehow, and he found himself stumbling past the adorable pet and towards one of the first years watching Kagami's somewhat hilarious reaction. Expecting to phase through and fall to the ground, he raised his arms to protect his face.

' _Hm?'_

Kuroko blinked. There was no impact. He hadn't fallen. "Huh?" And his voice was different…

 

* * *

 

Izuki stared at the panicking Kagami crouched in the corner, muttering unintelligible gibberings to himself as he covered his ears with his shaking hands, pretending the cute dog was not indeed a few centimetres behind him, panting excitedly and happily wagging its tail. Riko beside him twitched, the scary shine she got in her eyes whenever she saw something adorable beginning to manifest.

"Hm…you know…it's like that…right?"

Hyuuga beside him nodded, the same look of dull surprise and vague discouragement that adorned the self-proclaimed pun-master's face on his own. "Yeah, I know what you mean."

"I mean, when we first saw him, he seemed pretty cool, right?"

"Yeah, but now…." Placing their initial impression of the red head and his current situation side by side, there was a jarring difference.

"I CAN HEAR YOU, YOU KNOW!" Said red head hurriedly ducked back into his protective crouch after his angry outburst. Hyuuga sighed, whilst Izuki bit his lip to stop his incoming snort of laughter.

"He's shaking like a new-born Bambi. Oh deer."

"Izuki, shut up."

"Ah! Lala-chan!" Kobori rushed in to grab and cradle in his arms the terrorizing puppy. "I'm very sorry, she wasn't supposed to be wandering the school grounds alone like this."

"Lala-chan?"

"She's the tennis club's mascot, but most of the people involved in sports in this school know her. I'm so sorry, the tennis club usually manages her, I don't know why she's alone here."

"Ah…um…could you…please…take her…away?" Kagami's uncharacteristically frail voice whispered from his stiff shell of a body.

"Oh, yes, of course. I hope you don't mind me returning her to the tennis club members whilst on our way to the game."

Riko smiled. "No, it's alright. Lead the way."

The team began to follow. Koganei and Mitobe looked back at the still stationary Kagami. "You coming?"

"I'll…come later…at a 30 metre radius from the dog."

They looked at each other, before the cat-like senior shrugged at his silent companion. "Don't be late to the match though, okay? Hyuuga and the coach will get scary if you do."

"Scary?"

Kagami froze as Hyuuga suddenly seemed to appear out of nowhere to clasp his shoulder, his entire body wreathed in a terrifying fear miasma. His voice was barely louder than a whisper. " _Come late, Kagami, and I'll show you the true meaning of hell_."

The red-head felt his chill worsen. "…..yes."

 

* * *

 

"Kagami-kun?"

The red-head whipped his head up and jumped up from his crouch in surprise. He had been in the middle of counting to 60, waiting for the approximate moment when the member of the species that served as the bane of his existence would finally be a safe distance from him (30 metres at the closest). It had been so quiet that he'd thought he had been alone. _'I can't believe I forgot about Kuroko, maybe it's because he's a ghost, but sometimes it feels as if he has no presence. And why does his voice sound so weird?'_

"Jeez, don't interrupt me while I'm recovering from canine trauma, Kuro-" He froze as he finally turned to face the speaker.

A somewhat expressionless Furihata stared nonchalantly back at him.

"….ro…ro…roooooeallly nice weather today, isn't it, Furihata? Ahahahaha…." Kagami's smile was strained and almost painful to maintain as he awkwardly scratched his head. "I thought you'd left with the rest of the team."  _'Crap, please don't ask who I'd thought you were.'_

"Um…Kagami-kun, it's me."

"Huh? Yeah, I know it's you, Furihata."

"No…it's me….Kuroko."

Kagami blinked. Slowly, his eyes and mouth began to widen with delayed shock, before he snapped out of it to yell hoarsely.

"WHAT?!"

The Furihata-Kuroko body-consciousness combination….thing….winced and covered his ears from the outburst. "How many times do I have to say this until your brain can finally understand this concept? I am Kuroko."

"You can…what…you never told me you could possess bodies! Moreover, what about Furihata! What did you do to him!"

Kuroko shrugged. "I'm confused too. This has never happened before, possessing bodies. It's very strange." He turned in a half circle, inspecting his new body. "The ground looks really far from here…I'm kind of jealous."

"Why would height even matter to you? You can fly! And answer me, I'm getting nervous for Furihata."

"He's probably alright…" Kuroko closed his eyes. "I can still sense him…but his consciousness seems…quiet. Maybe he's sleeping?"

' _More like you forcefully knocked him out.'_ "So he'll be fine once you get out of his body, right?"

"…About that…"

' _Huh?'_

Kuroko shrugged, a look of helplessness almost there on his face. "I can't seem to leave."

"Eh?"  
"I've never been able to possess bodies before, no naturally I have no idea how to leave. Every time I try I get pulled back…it's kind of the same sensation as when I try to go further than my boundaries."

Kagami blinked. "But then…why are you able to do it now?"

The boy possessing ghost thoughtfully cocked his head. "I was thinking about it, maybe it's because you pushed me?"

"…I did?"

"I believe you were attempting to use me as a human shield against your worst nightmare. It was nice to see how much you care for me, Kagami-kun."

"Ahahaha….sorry."

"It must be the power of that flounder charm, I beginning to believe."

Kagami frowned and pulled it out of his shirt to inspect it. The lacquered wood innocently glinted in the sunlight, and the flounder grinned its stoned smile as always.  _'Ugh…I forgot how ugly it was.'_  He stared intently at it, Kuroko coming to stand by his shoulder to do the same. "Makes you speculate about what other wonders it can do…is it even okay for me to carry around this mysterious thing we know nothing about?"

"Definitely. Don't ever get rid of it, or I'll paint your bedroom walls in red marker, Kagami-kun."

"Hey!"

Kuroko ignored him. "But to be honest…having a physical body…it's really…" He didn't finish his sentence, and instead closed his eyes and raised his arms, feeling with his whole body the gentle breeze that washed over them.

"…I didn't know the human body could feel like this." He breathed in. "I didn't know the world smelled so much. All these sensations…"

Kagami's demand to try and find a way to remove him from Furihata's body died in his throat, and he looked somewhat sadly at the ghost quietly reacquainting himself with his two lost senses.  _'Sometimes I forget, but this guy is dead. He's lost his physical body and his memories, and yet still tries to enjoy what remains of his world.'_ A sad smile found its way onto his lips.  _'But in the end…even after learning more about the world and enjoying it...'_

Kagami looked away to stare at the ground.  _'He'll disappear, as if nothing had happened.'_

' _This is a friendship without a future.'_

 

* * *

 

"I can't believe we actually made it on time. I honestly thought we were going to die by the captain's hand." Kagami leaned against the gym wall with one hand, pausing to catch his breath. Quickly he began to make his way to the rest of the team waiting on one of the benches on the side of the basketball court, dragging his ghostly friend with him by the scruff of the neck.

Kuroko's breathing was erractic as he irritably shook the red-head's hand off and stumbled along beside him. "…I..can't…breathe."

"Eh? What! Why?! Furihata's body should be athletic enough for this run to have been easy!"

"…I'm…not used to…having to breathe…it was…hard…adjusting breath…for…running."

"…at this rate you might actually kill Furihata. Please be careful with that body."

"I…take…back…what I said…about….physical bodies…help me get out…Kagami-kun."

"We don't even know how. Besides, the match is about to start, no can do. Just wait until the match is over, jeez, we'll try to find a way then."

They reached the bench, where the team was beginning to stretch and get ready for the match. Fukuda and Kawahara looked up as they approached. "Ah, there you were, Furihata! We were wondering where you'd gone off to."

"Yeah, we were sure you were right behind us until we actually looked back…"

Kuroko by now had somehow returned to a calmer breathing pattern. "Ah…yes…hello."

Fukuda frowned. "You okay, Furihata? You sound weird…and you look kind of different."

"Yeah, your facial expression looks really blank."

Kagami decided it was time to change the topic. "Ahahaha…uh…where's the captain and coach? I don't see them around."

Kawahara shrugged. "Kaijou apparently decided we were small fry and so opted to have our practice match on a half-court. They're with the other team's coach, being angry at him- I mean, trying to argue for full court."

"Yeah, it also looks like the famed Kise Ryouta won't even be in the match." He pointed to one of the benches on the other side of the gym, where a tall, blond boy sat, clearly not in a basketball uniform but in a t-shirt and shorts. Even from the other side of the court, Kagami could tell he was attractive, if not from his looks then from the crowd of girls on the upper benches, cheering for and fawning over their 'beloved Kise-san'. He seemed to be a happy person, judging by the cheery smile on his face, even as an another shorter, black haired student dressed in the number four basketball uniform kicked him irritably. Kagami guessed, from the angry gesturing, that he was annoyed at the fangirls and the reason for their appearance massaging his kicked back in front of him.  _'Seriously, he's not even going to play? Those bastards are looking down on us.'_

Kuroko beside him seemed to be entranced by the Kaijou prodigy. He stared without blinking, an aura of inquisitiveness and ….something else…about him.

Kagami shook his shoulder, startling the ghost out of whatever had held him. "What, is this your first time seeing a relatively famous person?"

"No…it's just…" Kuroko frowned as he looked on in the blonde's general direction. "Don't you think there's something….wrong about his smile?"

"Huh?"

"No, it's nothing." He finally looked away from the blonde to watch the verbal argument between the two teams' coaches, Hyuuga's hand on Riko's shoulder in some kind of moral support. "It looks like we're heavily being looked down upon, for them to not even bother with full court." Looking closer, he realised that the captain's action was actually for the purpose of inconspicuously restraining her from jumping and attacking the other coach.

Kagami tched, before an uncharacteristically devious smile began to grow on his lips. "Well, if that's the case, we just have to show them we're serious, don't we?"

 

* * *

 

"You do realise you're going to have to pay for the backboard you broke."

Kagami flinched at the thought of the fees involved. "Hey! I got us our full court! And thanks to me they got rid of their annoying arrogant attitude. Besides, how is it my fault the backboard was old and weak?!"

Kuroko shrugged. "You're still going to have to pay for it."

The red head dropped his head in defeat. "…Don't depress me before a game."

"Oi! Kagami, Furihata! The coach wants a talk before the match begins! Get over here!"

"Ah, yes!" Kagami quickly turned to the (still) shorter Kuroko. "Okay, luckily no-one appears to have really noticed yeah, but make sure no one even suspects you of not being Furihata, got it? Act like him."

"But I'm not familiar enough to know about his habits and how he normally acts, Kagami-kun."

"Just don't be yourself. That'll probably work."

"Huh?"

"No monotonous talking, and put an expression on that face." Kuroko winced as the red-head stretched his cheeks to force a smile on him.

"Oi! Get over here before I drag you here!" Hyuuga was slowly getting impatient, and the miasma that had comfortably cloaked him earlier seemed to slowly be returning.

"Yes!" Kagami called back. Kuroko grabbed onto his arm before he walked off. "What if Furihata-kun gets called onto the court to play?"

Kagami didn't stop walking, and simply dragged the shorter teen along with him as he did. "He probably won't, it's more likely that the senior members will be called in to sub. But, even if he is, you'd be able to play, right?"

"Eh?"

"I mean, the first time I found you, you were playing basketball in the abandoned court. You're like a basketball ghost. You're at least skilled enough to play in a game right?"

Kuroko beside him fell silent, before a hesitant reply left his lips.

"…Yes…I suppose."

 

* * *

 

Koganei flailed in the air as he quickly passed the ball back into the court before he stepped backwards. Sticking his left foot back to steady himself, he froze as he felt it slip on the floor.

' _Oh. Shit.'_

*BANG* *CRASH*

Riko winced in sympathy as the cat-like boy tripped over the bench and fell backwards onto the floor, managing to hit the back of his head with a concerningly large sound. She signalled to the referee, and his whistle soon sounded its shrill call, signalling a temporary pause in the match.

Quickly making her way to the fallen second year, she pulled out the first-aid kit. "You alright? Koga…ah." He was unconscious. She suspected he had managed to knock himself out as he hit his head. Kneeling down to examine the swelling bump on the back of the boy's head, she turned to the two first years looking over worryingly behind her. "Fukuda, Kawahara. He's probably fine, but we can't be too sure. He'll most likely wake up in a few minutes, when he does, see if you can help him to the nurse's office to get that checked out."

"Ah...roger that."

She turned to the remaining two occupants of the bench, the ever calm and easygoing Tsuchida, and a strangely blank faced Furihata.  _'What's with the strong feeling of zen between those two?'_

The score was 22-15, with Kaijou in the lead. The first quarter hadn't even finished yet, and yet already there had been 37 points scored.  _'I might have expected something like this in a match between two teams which specialise in offense, but even so, this game is too fast paced.'_ She turned to look over the players still on the court.  _'At this rate we'll get too tired before we even reach mid-game. And the point difference between us…it's getting wider.'_

Sighing, she scratched the back of her head.  _'We need to slow the pace down. Focus more on defence.'_ Her eyes glanced to Kagami. He had exceeded her initial evaluation on his ability, managing to go one on one with the Kaijou's ace and one of the Generation of Miracles, Kise Ryouta.  _'Even so, this won't last.'_ Her eyes narrowed.  _'I'm getting the feeling they're just warming up. That Kise Ryouta…his ability to copy other's techniques and make them his own is troublesome.'_

' _We're in big trouble, aren't we?'_ A sudden smile appeared on her lips as she turned to Furihata. "You're up, first year."

The boy blinked and slowly pointed to himself. "…Me?"

She nodded. "It's your debut, Furihata. Get ready."  _'Right now we need someone to slow down the pace. This might be his first game ever, but I'm confident he'll be reliable at times like these.'_

"Ah…yes."

 

* * *

 

Kagami wiped his forehead as he watched the figure of Furihata Kouki calmly get up from the bench and walk onto the court.  _'Kuroko's being subbed in?'_

He paused at that thought.

'… _It'll be okay, right? He likes basketball so much that he remembers it from when he was alive. He's been playing by himself ever since he was dead in that abandoned courtyard. He's probably really good at it, right? Look at him, radiating confidence somehow with that expressionless face. It'll be okay, right?'_

The red-head shook away the thoughts of doubt as the whistle blew, signalling the beginning of the third quarter.  _'He'll be fine, just leave him to it.'_

 

* * *

 

*5 minutes later*

Kagami looked on in numb horror as Kise stole the ball from a mildly surprised Kuroko. Shaking his head, he rushed in to intercept, only for the blond to dodge him and Mitobe to jump towards the basket, performing another of his slam dunks.

This had been the sixth time in the last five minutes where the Kuroko possessed Furihata had gotten the ball stolen from him as he dribbled.

It was like watching a car crash you couldn't stop.

' _Why? Why is this happening? Why is Kuroko so bad at this? He's a basketball ghost that haunted the abandoned court, there's no way he should be this bad! He looked like such a pro! I don't understand!'_

"Time! Seirin requesting Player Switch!"

The red head wiped his forehead and looked surreptitiously at the scoreboard as he made his way to the bench.  _'The score difference between us is increasing…as this rate it'll be difficult to close it up before the game ends.'_

"I should've noticed this sooner, but are you alright, Furihata-kun?" A concerned Riko forced Kuroko down onto the bench. "This can't be attributed to nerves, your playing's worsened dramatically, and your body movements seem strange, not to mention the fact that your breathing is erratic. Even your facial muscles seem to have weakened. You should've told me if you were sick or felt weak!"

' _Ah…his movements seem strange because he's not used to being in this body, he still hasn't gotten the hand of adjusting his breathing….and Kuroko's facial expressions are always like that.'_

Kuroko simply blinked, trying to recover his breath. "Ah…I'm…sorry…coach…"

Riko shook her head. "No, it's fine. Do you need to go to the nurse?"

"No…I…think…I'll be…fine…after…a few…minutes."

Mitobe silently handed the poor boy a towel and water bottle as Riko considered their new situation. "Tsuchida, you're in."

"Yes."

She turned to the rest of the group. "Slow down the pace. Focus on strengthening the centre, and stopping the goals more than making our own. And you!" Kagami flinched as she suddenly pointed to him. "Don't get goaded into one on ones with Kise! I want you to help with defence, got it?"

"But-"

A sudden cold chill blew into the gym as the beginnings of a dark miasma seemed to form around the older girl.  _"Got it?"_

' _How do she and the captain even do it?'_ Kagami gulped."…yes."

 

* * *

 

"Isn't it time to admit it?"

Kagami wiped the sweat off his face with his shirt as Kise landed down firmly on his feet from his latest slam dunk. "What?"

The blond boy turned to face him, an uncharacteristically hard look on his usually cheerful face. "As you are right now, it's ten years too early for you to challenge the Generation of Miracles." He looked directly into the red-head's eyes. "I'll acknowledge your potential, but you're still no match for me. No matter what kind of technique you use, as long as I see it, I'll pay it back twice as much immediately."

' _In the face of hardship, there are two kinds of people, Kise-kun. Those who give up during the way, and those who-'_

"No matter how much you struggle, you can't win against me. Well…" A somewhat pained smile seemed to form on the blonde's lips. "…just remember that reality isn't such a sweet thing."

' _Which of the two kinds of people are you, Kise-kun?'_

The red-head was silent, his neck tilted down to look at the floor. His bangs hid his expression. Kise began to turn away from the defeated boy, before a soft chuckle reached his ears. Startled, he turned back, to see Kagami holding his stomach, letting out a happy, refreshed laugh.

"I'm sorry, but…ahahaha…I'm just a bit happy."

"Eh?"

The red-head wiped his tears. "It's been a while since someone's said that to me. Really, I'm a bit embarrassed to come back to Japan with this kind of mind-set. After all, life is about challenges. Without strong opponents, it wouldn't be fun." He finally straightened to grin at the stunned blonde, a determined and challenging look in his eyes. "It's perfect if I can't win."

Kise stared at him blankly, before a somewhat hesitant smile found its way to his lips. "I see."

"That guy was right."

"Huh?" Kise blinked, surprised at the sudden non-sequitur.

"Your smile, something's wrong with it. After all…" Kagami scrunched his eyes in thought as he passed by the blonde back to his side of the court.

"I've never seen a guy with a brilliant smile have such sad eyes."

 

* * *

 

Ever since he had been called out onto the court to sub, Kuroko had felt something within him change.

He didn't know what it was. All he knew was that there was this sensation of something deep within him beginning to rise. The deep sunken 'something' within the dark pool of memories was slowly, carefully, emerging. It was heavy and dense, and fought to pass through the viscous fluid which had kept it sunken all those unknown months.

And yet, as he lay watching the one on one against the Kaijou's ace Kise and Kagami, he felt it finally surface.

"…Coach, I have a request."

"Hm? What is it, Furihata?" Riko seemed to snap herself out of the intense analytical observation of the match, concern apparent in her face as she turned to face him. "Do you need to go to the nurse?"

"Ah, no." Kuroko slowly sat up from his reclining position and stretched his arms. "Please sub me back in."

Riko's eyes widened in surprise. "Huh?"

He turned to face her head on, his gaze sincere and serious. "I…I've got the hang of it now. Those five minutes in which I failed the team…I will make it up to them."

She stared at him then, noticing every detail on the boy. His uncharacteristically expressionless face somehow conveying determination and sincerity, the way his hands fiddled with his wrists, as if playing with wristbands that weren't there, the way his legs seemed poised to jump up to run onto the court.

The way his eyes shone with barely hidden excitement.

Riko made a decision then, a risky bet that would normally never be taken. She narrowed her eyes at the somewhat…changed Furihata. "Can you guarantee those words?"

The boy nodded, and stood resolutely. "Yes."

Riko nodded back, before turning back onto the court. "Seirin, time! Requesting a Player Switch!"

The whistle blew. A somewhat confused Tsuchida jogged towards the bench to tag on Kuroko who had begun walking onto the court.

The female coach watched him go, a just revived and confused Koganei beside her. "…you really believe in him, Coach?"

"Hm…I don't really know."

" _Eh?!_ "

A slow smile began to spread on her lips. "Call this…woman's intuition? After all," She raised her voice. "You'll succeed, won't you?"

The Kuroko possessed Furihata raised an arm to give a small wave, a hidden smile on his lips. "Of course, after all…" He brought it back down to adjust a non-existent wristband.

"I've remembered my basketball."

 

* * *

 

Kasamatsu looked on in confusion as Seirin no. 12 re-entered the court.  _'What are they thinking? I thought they'd learned from the last time he was on court that this newbie is a disaster.'_ He glanced at the Seirin's female coach.  _'What made her decide to put him back in?'_

The whistle sounded again, and the Kaijou team captain shook off the puzzled thoughts. _'We'll just have to teach them again that we're not a nice enough team to babysit their newbies.'_

 

* * *

 

Kagami was full of worry. ' _Why did the coach put him back in? This guy can't even adjust his own breathing!'_

"Kagami!"

The red head pulled away from those thoughts as he caught the pass and began dribbling towards the goal, dodging and pushing past the defending Kaijou players. He slowed down as Kise rushed forward to mark him, eyes coldly blank as they watched his every move.

' _I can't get past him. One wrong move and he'll steal it.'_ Kagami's eye darted wildly as he searched for a free teammate to pass it to.  _'At this rate, I'll be forced into a one on one…'_ A blur of light brown hair appeared in his peripheral hindsight; it was Kuroko.

'… _One on one, or Kuroko?'_ It was a difficult decision, one as risky as the other, but… _'Coach can't put have put him back in without a good reason. I'll take a chance.'_

Kise looked somewhat surprised as Kagami backed off from the challenge to pass to the body possessing ghost, and then…

Kagami blinked.  _'What?'_

A startled Hyuuga caught the ball, and instantly performed one of his three pointers. The whistle sounded as the scoreboard went up by three to Seirin, but the occupants of gyms, whether they were players or observers, all stayed in stunned silence.

"It's…it's in?"

"How did he get that pass through just now?!"

' _I passed to Kuroko, not the captain, and yet…how? I didn't see what happened.'_ Kagami stared at the ghost nonchalantly adjusting his uniform. From the way he wasn't looking like he about to collapse any minute, the red-head guessed that he had finally managed to learn how to adjust his breathing.  _'I didn't see what happened, even though it was right before my eyes. What happened?'_

 

* * *

 

' _What the….where did that ball come from?'_

The Kaijou team captain stared at the Seirin team's no. 12 shirt, who was currently having his back clapped upon by his ecstatic if not somewhat confused team-mates. ' _That kid…what did he do?"_

"…just now….that was…."

He turned to the team's ace beside him, concerned at the blonde's uncharacteristically stuttering voice. "…Kise?" He froze at what he saw.

 

* * *

 

Kasamatsu remembered the first time he met Kise Ryouta as clear as day. The other basketball team members had been either staring in shock or admiration at the famous member of the Generation of Miracles as the coach introduced him to the Kaijou team. The blond himself had just confidently stood there with a large, friendly smile on his cheery face.

Everything went fine, everything was normal.

But Kasamatsu could not shake the feeling that something was wrong.

Kise quickly became well-liked by near everyone. A model, an ace basketball player, and just overall a really friendly guy, it wasn't entirely surprising. Though he oozed with confidence in both his looks and basketball skills, there was no ugly arrogance in his cheerful personality.

But Kasamatsu didn't like the new ace's carefree smiles and friendly laughs. Something was wrong. Kise unnerved him for reasons he didn't understand.  _Something was wrong._

It took a while for him to realise what exactly it was, but when he did, it never left him.

Kise was crying.

His mask was perfect, flawless. No one other than him seemed to see that it wasn't his real face, and there were times when Kasamatsu himself doubted his own judgement. It never cracked, it never faltered. Like a motionless dam, it flawlessly hid the pain behind smiles and laughter.

Which was why Kasamatsu found himself staring in open shock as Kise's mask suddenly shattered completely with just one word uttered from his lips.

"Misdirection."

 

* * *

 

"I just remembered."

Takao turned the regard his eccentric green haired friend leaning forward on his desk, gazing blankly out the classroom window. Lowering the juice box that had been halfway to his mouth, he raised an eyebrow. "What?"

"I had a friend in middle school who wanted to go to Seirin." A slight frown appeared on Midorima's brow, slightly dislodging the spiral glasses (his lucky item for the day) perched on his head.

Takao leaned back on his chair. "Seirin…ah, you mean the school that's having its practice match with Kaijou? I didn't think you'd be interested in these kinds of things, Shin-chan." Midorima didn't respond, and just continued to stare intently at the flower buds of the tree outside the classroom. Takao finished off his juicebox. "So…did he go in the end?"

"…No…"

The conversation was trivial and inane, but the raven haired point guard felt it essential to participate in any conversations his green-haired friend began, simply for the fact they were rare. Very rare. "Eh~ What made him change his mind?"

"He didn't."

Takao frowned in confusion as Midorima finally stopped his intense staring match with the outside world and turned to stare down at his bandaged fingers.

"He couldn't go in the end."

"Uh…why?"

The green haired boy paused. "No…never mind, it's nothing."

' _He went somewhere, too far for us to reach.'_

* * *

_She lay as cold as ice._

_The forgotten apple gone forever._

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you read chapter two, Kagami already witnesses how Kuroko has no reflection via the windows of a passing subway train. He forgot. Because he's an idiot. (casually denying continuity problems.)


	5. interlude: like a blanket covers a child

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "Man alone measures time. Man alone chimes the hour. And, because of this, man alone suffers a paralyzing fear that no other creature endures. A fear of time running out."  
> -Old Man the Timekeeper

_The worst thing, he supposed, was passage of time. Or rather, lack of._

_He would watch as business women rushed through the woods, clutching their morning coffee tightly as they ran as fast as their heels would allow them to catch the underground trains. Children skipped by from school to play carelessly in the park playground until finally splitting up to return home. Couples and friends lounged about on the benches, eating lunch together as they chatted, laughed, and in the case of the former, occasionally kissed._

_There was a routine, he would later realise in detached curiosity. Morning, Noon, Afternoon, Evening. Nothing changed. It was like watching a play again and again on a broken record, the actors reprising their roles, never tiring of their constant lines and stage directions._

_He hated it. He wanted to scream at the people going through their stupid routines. He wanted to shake some sense into them, break them out of their constant routines. Break_ _them_ _._

_He never did. He didn't want to face his inability to interact with them. Observe, observe, for that's the only thing you can do. Observe, and pretend that this is what you want. Besides, he wasn't a shouting kind of person. Had he been one when he was alive? He didn't think so._

_Time, time, and look at all the little humans going about through their routines, spending time as if it was a currency._

_Ah, but what good was time for him? His time was endless, for it had already run out. While the people ran about on their routines, saving seconds and coveting the hours, he sat still just watching them, safe in his strange dichotomy of having all the time in the world and yet none. Maybe that was why it was difficult for him to measure time – there was no clock in the park. No routines, nothing to chime the hours, and only the slow rise of the dawn to announce a new day._

_He didn't keep count. There was no point. Time meant nothing to him._

_And yet he hated it. He hated, hated with a coldness that gripped his being. Let me out, he wanted to cry, Let me out of this prison of time._

_Letmeoutletmeoutletmeoutletm eout-_

_Sometimes he wonders if he's going mad._

_He wonders and wonders, and sometimes then he dreams. He doesn't know how that happens, when he doesn't even sleep, but somehow he manages._

_It's always the same dream._

_The lake's always there, the inky black depths of the still water motionless. The grass is soft and cool where he stands barefoot on the edge of the bank. The morning is cool and misty, covered in silent fog. All is silent; there's no sound, not even the whispering breaths of passive breathing._

_He never feels calm though. There's something charged in the air, fear? Anger?_

_Hatred?_

_He turns to stare at the hooded figure sitting beside him, gently reeling in the bait of his fishing pole cast into the lake. Despite the movement, there are no ripples in the black, viscous liquid._

_He hears himself speak. "I don't want to die." It's always the same phrase. He can't control his words, his actions._

_The figure pauses in his reeling, and turns to gaze up at him with empty eye sockets dripping black fluid. A stranger. "I know."_

_And like the rest of the dream, the end is always the same._

_He drowns._

 

* * *

 

"…rihata? Furihata?"

"Furihata! Calm down! Wake up!"

Furihata woke up to a pounding beat in his ears and a familiar voice murmuring in alarm. Someone seemed to be gasping for breath in the room, sobbing uncontrollably. The boy squinted against the too bright light, blearily searching for the source of sound. A concerned face stared back, and it took him a few moments of confusion to register the wetness of his eyes and the burn of his lungs.

The one in the room sobbing was him and him alone.

Riko leaned forward to clasp a small, warm hand on his shaking shoulders. "You alright?" Her voice was quiet, almost muted in the strange, dreamlike glow of the afternoon sun. The brunette realised he was in the nurse's room.

It took a while to find his voice again. He breathes in, ready to reassure his coach, ready to explain.

But all that leaves his lips is a scream.

 

* * *

 

' _And so alone in the black water, I died.'_

 

* * *

 

Kuroko knows in his few waking seconds even before he opens his eyes that he's no longer in the body of Furihata. It's not the lack of olfactory and tactile senses that alert him, nor his ethereal chest moving inwards and outwards for a while before ceasing as it realises his body no longer needs to breathe. It's not even the fact he's floating horizontally above what he will later realise is the roof of the Kaijou school gym.

It's the return of  _It_.

He doesn't know what it is, but it's always there. The inky black, rippling  _thing_  borders his peripheral vision like a picture frame from hell. Sometimes he sees it, sometimes he doesn't, but it's always  _there._

Madness, he calls it. It was named for irony and boredom, but now he wonders. Furihata had given him a clarity of mind he hadn't experienced since the beginning of his days. He wonders if physical bodies chase it away, keep it away, keep him  _safe._

He's not safe now, not any longer. It's back. Once again he has to hide it, keep it under wraps, make sure Kagami doesn't see, doesn't suspect. He'd lost control with the red marker, but it won't happen again.

He wonders if it's getting bigger, or whether it's just his imagination.

Most of all, he wonders if he's going mad.  _Are you mad? I'm not mad. Don't let him see. Don't let him see it._

The ghost squinted at the blue sky, before swinging himself upright. Already he misses it, the feel of the breeze against his skin, the scent of the autumn leaves and the dusty gravel of the road. Once again, his world is empty.

He wonders if ghosts can cry.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yeah.


	6. we are all asleep

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nothing can cure the soul but the senses, just as nothing can cure the senses but the soul. -- Oscar Wilde

 Kagami collapsed onto the gym bench with a groan, his legs feeling like trembling jelly. The rest of the team lay in various states in exhaustion around him, either on the benches or in Koganei’s case, lying face down on the floor. Kagami glanced up to the scoreboard as he reached for a water bottle, and grimaced.

Kajiou had won in the end, 98 - 87.

Kuroko’s sudden comeback had been a gamechanger, in a sense, instantly changing the flow of the game. He’d found himself in a cooperation play with the body possessing ghost before he’d realised it, the ball exchanged between them through the Kaijou team members as easily as water. Not even the famous Kise seemed to have been able to stop them initially, though…

Kagami frowned as he searched the other team’s bench for the blonde, but found himself unable to locate him. Shrugging, he turned back to his thoughts. Kise had been strangely sluggish throughout the time Kuroko had been on the court, though Kagami couldn’t really guess why other than the unorthodox techniques shocking him. Considering the blonde’s personality, it didn’t really seem to fit.

Whatever the case, he’d managed to snap himself out of it in the 3rd quarter and began demonstrating exactly why he was one of the Generation of Miracles, putting pressure back onto the court. It had reached a point to which even his team-play with Kuroko couldn’t easily break past him.

And then…well.

An accidental swing of an arm on Kise’s part and Kuroko’s natural lack of presence (now applied to Furihata’s body) resulted in an unconscious Kuroko/Furihata, whom Riko had, with the help of the first years, carted off to somewhere whilst the game continued. Kise had seemed somewhat distressed about it (which Kagami couldn’t really understand – it was just an accident after all), but it reflected nothing on his playing.

It all went downhill from there.

Kagami blinked. Losses didn’t really bother him much, it just meant he needed to practice and train more. But the more pressing matter was….

The red-head tsked. During the mid-game break he’d needed to rush to the toilet, and had then returned to a furious full-team discussion on tactics. He had had no time at all to talk with Kuroko in private and find out what on earth was going on and what the hell he was doing on the court.

_‘Seriously, I’d never seen anything like that before. And really Kuroko, though I really do appreciate the awesome advantage you gave to our team, what are we going to do when you leave Furihata’s body? He can’t do what you just did back there! What could we possibly explain to everyone?’_

Sighing, he leaned forward to rest his hands on his knees. _‘I am totally not going to handle this by myself. Kuroko, seriously, you better clean up the messes you’ve made yourself!’_

 

* * *

 

Kise could hear nothing but his pounding heartbeat as he strode through the school corridors. The match had just ended a few minutes ago, but he had taken no notice of the confused calls of his teammates as he left the court to the school main building, instead of heading to the locker rooms along with the rest of them. It wasn’t that he had ignored them, more like he couldn’t hear them over the buzz of his mind, full of silent whispers and screams of ‘what’, ‘how’ and ‘why’.

His strides quickened. Walking soon lead to jogging, running, sprinting, but he ignored the burn of his lungs and ache of his legs, still not rested from the game.

_‘That skill, it was his. It was his alone. No-one else could manage it. No-one else could have done -no, no, he must’ve taught it to him.’_

He spotted the door of the nurse’s office as he turned into the corridor, slowing down to a loping jog. It was slightly ajar, letting out a sliver of the afternoon sun.

_‘He must have met him somehow, before….before. Maybe he’d found potential in him and decided to teach him it, maybe the guy begged to be taught, maybe…’_

He paused in front of the door, hand still outstretched to pull it open. _‘Why do I care? What does it matter? Whether he taught it to him, how this guy knows his skill, what does it matter anymore?’_ He dropped his hand, his teeth beginning to worry his lower lip. _‘It wouldn’t change anything. It wouldn’t change how he’s…’_

He backed away from the door, one slow step at a time. The sound of low murmurings of a female voice could be heard from the room, followed by a sudden gasp reminiscent of one just waking up from a nightmare. Kise forced himself to ignore them, had to physically restrain himself from leaping into the room. Slowly, he turned away. His feet felt like lead, his heart heavier, but he didn’t stop moving past the door and along the rest of the corridor.

_‘It wouldn’t change how he’s dead.’_

His eyes burned as something began to prick at the edges. _‘It wouldn’t bring back all we’ve lost. It wouldn’t wake-‘_

A sudden scream from inside the room rang out in the empty corridor, laced with terror and hurt. The lead in his feet dispersed like clouds, and Kise could not, would not, stop himself from running back.

 

* * *

 

Kagami paused at the entrance of the gym. He’d rushed to wipe the sweat from the game away and throw his training jacket and pants on, but the pungent smell of sweat still lingered. Hyuuga grimaced as he passed by, but he was no better, so did not comment. “What are you doing?”

“Ah... I was hurrying to see Furihata….so…”

 Hyuuga raised an eyebrow. “Riko’s tending to him in the nurse’s office in the main building, if you wanted to know where he was. I wasn’t aware you guys were such close friends though.”

The red head laughed nervously. “Ahahaha…what are you saying captain? We’re in the same class, of course we’re friends!”

“Bakagami, Furihata’s in class 1-2, while you’re in 1-3. Well, that’s how it’s written on the application forms you guys handed to us.”

“Eh? Really? We’re not in the same class?”

Hyuuga pinched the skin between his eyebrows. “Sometimes I don’t know why I bother,” he muttered, “If you make a right turn where the path splits from here, you’ll get to the main building eventually. From there I’m pretty sure there are signs leading to the nurse’s office.”

“Ah…thank you!” Kagami made a half wave as he rushed out of the building, already beginning to sprint despite the fatigue already gained from the game in his legs. Hyuuga simply shrugged and returned to the locker rooms, a wry smile on his lips.

 

 

Kise froze in the doorway as he took in the scene before him. Seirin’s coach grasped the brunette’s shoulders as he shook uncontrollably in the bed, his eyes glazed and blank as he began to hyperventilate. His skin was unhealthily pale and clammy, and Kise could see from the doorway that the boy was not all here.

The female coach turned to him as he entered the room, a desperately pleading look in her eyes. _‘Help me!’_

Kise acted impulsively and without much critical thinking involved. Moving quickly forwards, he took hold of the boy’s shaking hands and covered them with his own.

“It’s 4:15pm.” His voice was calm and warm, without a hint of the panic Kise was currently experiencing. “You’re in the nurse’s office in Kaijou High, Kanagawa. Your name is…”

Seirin’s female coach took his offered cue. “Furihata Kouki. Your name is Furihata Kouki. Are you alright?”

Furihata’s breathing slowed as the two continued their meaningless inputs in peaceful, pacifying tones. Eventually his shaking stilled and life seemed to return to his eyes.

“…Coach?” His voice cracked as if just waking from a deep sleep.

She look into his eyes, concerned. “Are you alright, Furihata?”

“Uh…yeah I guess. I…sorry about that just now.”

“It’s nothing. Are you hurt anywhere?”

“No….other than a massive headache, not really.”

She got to her feet. “I’ll go get you some painkillers for that. Stay here and rest, Furihata.”

“Roger.”

Kise followed her out of the room, mostly because he had no idea what he was supposed to do otherwise. The female coach turned to him as they left the room, an impressed look in her eyes as she evaluated him. “That was impressive, what you did just there.”

He smiled awkwardly. “It’s just something I copied some time ago…to tell the truth I was freaking out there.”

She raised an eyebrow, but to his relief, did not pursue the topic. Glancing back at the doorway of the nurse’s room, she sighed. “Unfortunately it seems the nurse locked all the cabinets after she left, I’ll have to get back to my first aid kit in the gym for the pain relief pills for his headache. I know it’s too much to ask, but could you keep an eye on him until I get back?”

Kise let cheer fill his expression with practiced ease. “No problem!”

 

* * *

 

Furihata seemed more or less back to his normal self by the time Kise returned to the room, other than a flush of embarrassment reddening the tips of his ears. He greeted the blonde with a clumsy grin. “Aha…sorry you had to see that, Kise-san.”

Kise met it with one of his dazzling smiles. “It’s no problem. Nightmares are nothing to laugh at, after all,” His smile slipped faintly, “they tend to reflect our most terrifying fears.”

Furihata missed the tiny change in his expression, his eyes frozen on his still trembling fingers which fiddled with the sheets on the bed. His next comment was quiet, almost audible that Kise had to lean forward to hear them. “It wasn’t anything I’d experienced before. I don’t usually have nightmares but…I know that this one was different.”

“It felt…too real to be a dream.”

Kise knew that he should steer the conversation away from the topic of dreams in case Furihata suffered another attack. He knew and yet…

“Do you remember what it was about?”

The other boy clenched his hands into fists and leaned back against the headboard of the bed to stare blankly into the ceiling. “I’m beginning to forget it but…” He narrowed his eyes as if trying to recall long lost memories.

“I was…dying.”

Kise felt his eyes widen.

“Alone in the black water, unable to hear, see, feel anything…I drowned.”

_‘Alone in the - -- --- -- I couldn’t-----scream---no one could-----I was-------dying.’_

_‘Help me. Save me.’_

“Kise-san?” _‘Kise-kun?’_

A large flinch shuddered through the blonde as a concerned hand on his shoulder snapped him back to the present. Blinking, he turned to the only other occupant of the room.

Furihata gave him an unsteady smile. “Maybe it’s best we steer away from the topic of nightmares, eh?”

Kise stared at him uncertainly, before returning it in full force with all the speed and glamour only a model could achieve. “Yeah, that sounds best.”

The brunette removed his hand and self-consciously scratched the back of his head. “I kind of forgot to ask you this, but where did coach go?”

“Ah, to retrieve pain-killers from her first-aid kit in the gym.”

“The gym? Where am I?”

“This is the nurse’s office in the main building. You worried everyone when you passed out in the 3rd quarter.”

“…3rd quarter?”

Kise frowned. “Um…of our game? We had a practice game between our teams that just finished a few minutes ago.”

Furihata just stared at him, his expression frozen on his face. His voice seemed to shake as he spoke again. “Uh…something’s been bothering me ever since I noticed the sunlight in the room but…what time is it right now?”

The blonde glanced around the room for a clock, only to find none. “I’m not sure exactly, but it’s around 4:30pm.Why?”

“Um…the last thing I remember is…walking with my team to Kaijou’s gym…to have that practice match. It was….3:10…the last time I checked.”

_‘Eh?’_

“So you….you don’t remember our match?” _‘Well, I did hit his head but…I’m pretty sure it wasn’t hard enough to erase memories…was it?’_

“Sorry, I don’t really remember anything during the past hour, it seems.”

 _‘…I really hope Seirin doesn’t kill me for this.’_ “Ahahahaha…I am really, really sorry…”

“Huh?”

Kise grinned apologetically. “During the 3rd quarter I accidently hit you on the head…I’m kind of the reason why you’re here and everything. I came here to apologise profusely but then….well you don’t remember anything now so this is a bit awkward.”

“Eh, it’s no problem. This is probably nothing.”

Kise narrowed his eyes. _‘I wasn’t sure until now but, looking closer there’s not even a bruise or wound on this guy’s head. I didn’t hit him hard enough to knock this guy out, or to cause memory loss. Whatever the cause was, I’m sure it wasn’t all me.’_

“That said, you should probably check a doctor after this, don’t you think?”

Furihata blinked at him. “Uh…I guess?”

“It would be a very, very good idea to.”

The brunette seemed a bit cowed at the force of his suggestion. “…Ok.”

An awkward silence descended upon the room. Furihata returned to fiddling with the bedsheets, his hands having stopped trembling minutes ago. His face was no longer sickly pale, colour and cheer returning to bloom in his cheeks. Kise cleared his throat, the question he had debated on asking or not finally rising to his lips.

“Actually, there was another reason I came here.”

“Hm?”

The blonde turned to him, his easy smile slipping off his face to be replaced by a serious gaze. “In that game, you used a technique I’ve only ever seen used by another person. Can you tell me how you gained it?”

Furihata gaped at him. “Huh?”

Kise frowned. “You probably wouldn’t remember using it in the game, but you should still remember learning and training that technique. Misdirection. Who taught it to you?”

“Mis…what? Kise-san, I really don’t understand what you’re talking about.”  
 _“Don’t fuck with me.”_ Furihata froze as a sudden chill seemed to blow through the room. Kise’s fringe obscured his eyes as he glared frighteningly at the other boy, his hands clenched into fists with his arms tense at his sides. He had drawn himself up to his full height at the end of the bed. “That technique, did Kurokocchi teach it to you? Did you learn it from him? How did you know him? How did you learn it from it? Why….what are you trying to hide?“

“Kise…san?”

“Tell me. You have to tell me. Why-“

“Don’t you think that’s enough?”

 Kise froze as a restraining hand landed on his shoulder. Turning his head, his face was coldly expressionless as he met fiery red eyes with his own golden ones. Kagami stood his ground. The two were chillingly silent, before Kise turned back to the concerned Furihata with an apologetic smile.

“Sorry about that, Furihata-san, I guess that was rude of me.” He swivelled on his heels to step towards the door, casually brushing off the red-head’s hand off his shoulder as he did so. “I…I need to get back to my team now so, bye.”

Kagami felt a vein pop in his forehead as the blonde left the room. “Oi!”

“I think it’s best to let him go, Kagami-kun,” The redhead spun to face Furihata in surprise. “It looks like he needs to cool his head or something right now.”

“Really? Because it looked like he was being a bastard right now.”

The brunette shrugged. “He was getting worked up about something. I don’t really understand what it was though. Anyway, what are you doing here?”

Kagami frowned. “What do you mean, ‘what am I doing here?’. Obviously I’m here to make sure you’re alright. By the way, what WAS that in that game? That was…seriously what the hell? I mean I knew you were a basketball gho-“

He froze. Furihata looked up at him, a look of total confusion and incomprehension on his face. Expressions. On his face.

_‘Shit. This isn’t Kuroko.’_

“…go…go….goalie?”

The brunette just stared. “…What.”

“ANYWAY. How…how are you feeling?”

“No, what the hell Kagami-kun. What were you saying before?”

“Nothing. Nothing at all. I don’t know. I lost track of the conversation. I don’t know what I’m saying anymore. I’m a basketball idiot who knows nothing except basketball. I don’t even know the quadratic equation. How are you feeling Furihata?”  
“Uh….ok?”

Kagami honestly had no idea what he was saying anymore. “’Ok ok’? Or ‘not really Ok but just saying you’re ok because you don’t really know what else to say’ Ok.”

“…Well I’ve been better but I feel fine mostly. I don’t have any headaches anymore if that’s what you’re asking…but…”

“But?”

Furihata sighed and lay back against the headboard with a wry smile. “Well it seems I’ve lost memories of the last hour or so and therefore I don’t really remember anything about the match everyone’s talking about.”

 _‘Godammit Kuroko. Now you’ve made everything ridiculously complicated for everyone.’_ “Hah. Hahaha. Uh. Funny that. It’s probably nothing, you’re fine.”

Furihata clearly did not believe him. “..Really, because Kise-san just told me I should probably get to the doctor, implying this may be serious.”

“Tchh, it’s not like he’s an expert. Things like that have happened to me all the time and I’m ok.”

“…….might explain why you’re a basketball idiot.”

“Oi. What was that.”

“Nothing!”

 Kagami sighed as he glanced at the open door of the nurse’s office, swaying slightly in the warm breeze drafting in from the open window. “So, what was that Kise guy being angry at you for anyway?”

Furihata nervously scratched behind his right ear. “To be honest I have no idea. He was asking me about some kind of technique I was using in the match…except I have no memory of every using or learning it before so…really I have no idea what he was talking about.”

Kagami narrowed his eyes. _‘Was he that intrigued or surprised at what Kuroko was doing in the court? I suppose it was almost like magic, what he was doing, but it shouldn’t have elicited such a strong response. What the hell?’_

“Also…”

Kagami blinked as he pulled himself out of his thoughts to glance back at Furihata. The brunette seemed to be biting his thumb thoughtfully. “No…he knew what it was. He was calling it…Misdirection? He was asking me if someone called….Kuro….kocchi? He was asking me if someone called Kurokocchi has taught me it or something. But seriously, I really don’t know what people are talk-“

Kagami stopped listening to him, lost in his own thoughts. _‘He knew what it was? He’d seen it before? A technique like that isn’t seen everyday, to be sure. He was asking if someone had taught Furihata. Kurokocchi…..kurokocchi….kuro….’_

The redhead stilled as his eyes widened in revelation. _‘Kuroko? Kuroko Tetsuya?’_

Furihata stopped his raging tirade in surprise as Kagami violently opened his gym bag to swiftly fish out the magazine he’d lent him yesterday.

“Uh…Kagami, what are you doing?”

The redhead ignored him as he hurriedly flipped through the pages, before seemingly giving up in frustration. “Furihata! Where are the pages on Teikou Middle?!”

 “Um, 19 and 20 I think. They’re near the centre.”

Kagami flipped through the pages again, this time with a slower, more precise handling, before finally finding the double spread special article on the ‘Generation of Miracles.’ His eyes darted the across the page frantically, searching with the desperation of a thirsty man until…

_‘There it is.’_

It wasn’t the main focus of the picture, but Kagami did not care. The photographer had been taking a shot of a purple-headed giant playing centre in a practice game, but at the corner, a dark haired figure stood at the edge of the court, watching the game.

The image was small, and a bit blurred but Kagami knew exactly what he was looking at. The figure was wearing the same uniform Kuroko wore everyday. The school uniform of Teikou Middle High.

“Oi! Kagami! What’s going on!”

Kagami almost tripped over his feet as he tried to shove everything back into his bag and run out of the room towards the corridor at the same time. “Uh. Sorry Furihata! I’ll tell you later!” He waved half-heartedly as he sprinted out of the room.

“Hey! HEY! BAKAGAMI! OI!”

 

* * *

_‘Kise knows Kuroko. Ok so that might not be true. Kise MIGHT know Kuroko. Have known Kuroko. Knew Kuroko before he…yeah.‘_

Kagami slowed down his sprinting, his legs beginning to feel the burn and tiredness from the practice match. To top it off, his stomach decided then to growl plaintively. _‘Seriously, what will chasing down Kise accomplish? What will I even say to him? What if he doesn’t even know Kuroko? I could be basing all of this on coincidence, and I’m sure there are other school uniforms that look similar to Teikou’s. Even if they were from the same school it doesn’t guarantee they ever even met. I don’t even know WHEN Kuroko died, it could’ve been way before Kise’s generation.’_

His pace slowed to a crawl, until stopping completely. _‘I don’t even know if ‘Kurokocchi’ is really Kuroko. It’s his surname – and it’s not like it’s particularly rare._

_This could be nothing. This could be absolutely nothing.’_

He stared through one of the hallway windows, at the gently dancing branches of the autumn trees. It reminded him of the sad way Kuroko had embraced the wind in Furihata’s body, experiencing touch for the first time.

 _‘Tch.’_ Kagami clenched his fists and began to jog, quickly accelerating into another sprint as he raced into the entrance hall and out of the main building. He began to make his way back to the gym.

 _‘It could be nothing, but I have to try. I have to check. I’d be a crappy friend if I couldn’t even do that.’_ His lungs began to burn, but he ignored it. _‘Kise could hold the answers to everything. He could know Kuroko’s past. He could return all those lost memories.’_

Finally, he caught sight of a mop of blonde hair, its owner slowly trudging towards the gym. Kagami forced himself to accelerate.

_‘I have to at least try.’_

“OI!!!! KISEEEE-GAH??!!”

Kagami felt his breath leave his lungs as something barrelled into him with the force of a rampaging bull. Landing heavily on his back into a hedge, he looked around dazed for his attacker, only to get an eyeful of light blue.

“Kuroko? What are you-mmmfff“

The ghost made something reminiscent of a displeased frown and proceeded to shove a hand against the red-head’s mouth as he raised the other to press a finger against his own lips. Kagami just gaped in incomprehension, but he made no sound and stayed still under Kuroko’s impossibly heavy weight, so it worked just as well. Glimpsing a stray leg, the blue-haired boy kicked it closer into the thorny bushes to completely conceal the red-head, much to said red-head’s muffled indignation. Kuroko ignored him and glanced up to see a confused blonde scanning his surroundings for whoever had called out to him, before shrugging his shoulders and continuing his progress to the gym.   

It was only until he was definitely out of earshot that the ghost relinquished his hold on the other boy.

Kagami immediately swiped at him, which Kuroko avoided with ease as he floated out of reach. “What the hell was that for?!” He struggled to his feet, nearly tripping over himself as he untangled himself from the brambles and shrubs of the hedge. “I swear I’m gonna have so many bruises from this…” The red-head irritably picked at some leaves and twigs that had attached themselves to his hair.

Kuroko watched his pointless struggle with his trademark blank expression, though with a mulish tint in his eyes. “You were about to call out to Kise-san…about me.”

Kagami stared at him. “Eh? How did you know?”

“I can read minds.”  
“What!! Pssshh I know that isn’t true, you told me it wasn’t.”

“It was worth a try. I overheard your conversation with Furihata-san in the nurse’s office.”

“And?” Kagami finally admitted defeat and abandoned his attempts, straightening up to his full height to stare down at the short boy with an abundant supply of twigs and flowers in his hair. Kuroko seemed to frown and floated higher to Kagami’s eye level. “Why did you stop me?”

The ghost finally broke eye-contact to gaze at the small tornadoes of red leaves blowing about in the autumn wind on the school pathways. “I don’t know if Kise-san knew me in the past. I don’t know if we were ever friends, but…” He turned to glare obstinately back at Kagami. “I don’t want to know. I don’t want you to know either.”

Kagami was stunned. “But…why? Don’t you want to know? About your past, how you lived, how you died? Don’t you want to know about your friends, your family?”

Kuroko seemed to flinch at the last comment, but it was miniscule to the point that Kagami wondered whether he’d imagined it. His next words were uncharacteristically cold in tone. “I don’t remember ever mentioning to you that I wanted to find out about my past, but I’ll make it clear right now. My past is nothing to me. I don’t need nor want to know anything about it, and I’d appreciate it if you’d leave it alone.”

Kagami stared at him, speechless. He almost took a step back, before standing his ground angrily. “Maybe YOU don’t want to know, but you can’t dictate what I want to know. And THIS is what I want to know.” He turned to make his way towards the gym, not sparing a glance at the ghost. “Fine, you can spend the rest of your goddamn existence not knowing anything, but I’m gonna find out, and you can’t stop me.”

He gasped as he was knocked down to the ground for the second time, a familiar ridiculously heavy weight settling onto his back with an arm wrapping around his neck in an equally familiar chokehold. Kuroko’s voice behind him attempted to be calm as always, but he could not hide the streak of desperation in his tone. “Promise me, Kagami-kun, that you’ll never find out. You can’t know. I won’t let you.”

“No!! Geh- Get off me!”

“Promise me!”

“Or what? You’ll levitate things and graffiti the school walls? You’ll destroy my property? It looks like you can do anything with these powers of yours! Maybe even goddamn kill me!”

The pressure instantly lifted from his back and neck, and Kagami spun around on his knees to face the ghost, his hands massaging his sore neck. He blinked and froze at the sight before him.

Kuroko stared at him in  uncharacteristic horror, his hands before him as if he could not understand their existence. His mouth moved but no sound emerged as his entire body seemed to shudder.

“No…no…I… _I wouldn’t._ ”

“Kuroko?” Kagami stepped towards him.

“I wouldn’t!” Kuroko backed away, floating higher and higher away from the approaching red-head. Suddenly he stopped, and glanced fearfully at his hands.

“I wouldn’t…would I?”

“Kuroko!”

Kagami reached towards him, but his hands grasped only air as the ghost vanished into nothing. 

 

* * *

 

Kise stared at the cellphone in his hand thoughtfully. Leaning against the gym lockers in his school uniform with a towel carefully thrown around his shoulders, he sighed and gently banged his head against the blue metal behind him. He was the only one left in the locker rooms, Kasamatsu-senpai having thrown him the keys and allowing him to stay behind with an uncharacteristically concerned look.

Sometimes senpai seemed really perceptive, and he wondered whether he could see everything behind his carefully arranged mask.

He didn’t know how to feel about that.

Blowing lips in a raspberry, he finally flipped the phone open to dial in a familiar number, and raised it to his head. He smiled exasperatedly as an obnoxiously cheery tune met his ears before it clicked.

“Hm?? Hi Ki-chan! It’s rare for you to call~ How are you doing?”

Kise smiled, even knowing there was no way for the recipient to see it. “Hi Momoiichi! Eh~ What do you mean it’s rare for me to call? I send you beautiful and elegant texts all the time!”

“Ki-chan~ They’re mostly photos you took of strange things at school with ‘lolololol’ as the caption.”

Kise faked sobbing. “I thought you loved them…”

“There, there Ki-chan, I’m sure you’ll eventually meet someone with the same kind of crappy humour you have!”

“So mean!”

The conversation filtered into a brief comfortable silence, both parties gently smiling with a sadness only they could know.

“So, why’d you call me, Ki-chan?”

“Eh...I kind of feel bad about doing this, but I called to ask a favour.”

“Hm~ If it’s to do with Touou Academy, you know I can’t help you Ki-chan.”

“Of course not~ I was just wondering if you could do background checks on some people for me.”

“Eh? Having some trouble with people at your modelling work, Ki-chan? Do you need some dirty info on them?”

Kise blanched, and put a whine into his voice. “No, of course not! What kind of person do you think I am, Momoiichi!”

“I wouldn’t judge or blame you if you did ask, Ki-chan. I would be perfectly happy to do so~”

 _‘Uwah….sometimes Momoiichi scares me. I’m really glad she’s my friend and not an enemy.’_ “It’s not like that, Momoiichi. It’s just…I need to find out some things about some people.”

“I guess you wouldn’t tell me even if I asked why, would you~”

Kise smiled apologetically. “Sorry Momoiichi. But if what I suspect is true, you’d find out anyway.”

“True~ What are their names?”

“Furihata Kouki….and…” Kise bit his lip thoughtfully as his eyes narrowed. _‘That play in that practice match between that Furihata kid and the other guy…it almost reminded me of…of…them. They must’ve practiced at least a little to have gotten that kind of cooperation play.’_

“…Kagami Taiga. Furihata Kouki and Kagami Taiga of Seirin High. Could you please look into them, Momoiichi?”

“Sure thing, Ki-chan~ Ah, I gotta go visit Dai-chan now, cya later, ok?”

“Thanks, Momoiichi~”

He flipped the phone closed and sighed as he leaned his head back against the blue lockers again. Suddenly he banged his head backwards, harder this time as he gritted his teeth in frustration. Moisture gathered in his eyes and he curled into a ball, leaning his now throbbing head on his knees as he hid his face in the empty room.

“…what…am I doing?”

 

* * *

 

_And so she ran_

_Ran until she could not stop_

_Her red cloak streaming behind her like blood_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ah, forgot to mention: Starting from chapter 3 there are verses of a poem at the end of each chapter. They're from the same poem (so will probably have to wait quite a bit for the whole poem to be revealed), and contain hints, I guess if you look hard enough, on Kuroko.


	7. those who weep

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> And I gave my heart to know wisdom  
> And to know madness and folly  
> I perceived that this also is vexation of spirit  
> For in much wisdom is much grief  
> And he that increaseth knowledge increaseth sorrow  
> \- Ecclesiastes

_“Under------------can’t do--------himself-------“_

_“Tetsu-------remember-------how to----------anymore----“_

_‘Who are you?’_

_‘What are you saying?’_

_‘What-‘_

A heaviness seemed to weigh down on his body, and Kuroko slowly forced his eyes open to a blinding light around him. The blue orbs struggled at first, before blinking rapidly to alertness. An all-encompassing whiteness surrounded his body. ‘ _Fog_ ’ he remembered. In the early darkness of morning it had gently draped his park until the sunlight of dawn tore it apart. His hands twitched at his sides, restless and fearful.

“Where…?”

Tentatively he stepped forwards, clear blue eyes searching around for any familiar landmark, but the stagnant fog obscured his vision beyond two metres at most. Here the winds were still. The blades of grass stood upright as if at attention, guided by no tendrils of gentle breeze. They might have been sharp as knives or as soft as wool, but they bowed underneath his bare feet all the same.

It was…cold.

Kuroko paused, and stared down at his pale feet. His toes seemed to shiver under the scrutiny, before wiggling between the blades of grass poking through.

It was…damp.

The boy stilled, before raising his arms as if to touch the tendrils of fog. Goosebumps began to dot his skin underneath the uniform jacket, and his nose numbed with cold as he breathed in the minty scent of morning rain.

He could _feel._ He could _smell_.

Eyes widened as he took an unconscious step back, one hand rising to cover his mouth as if to push back the forbidden question rising to his lips.

“Am I…am I alive?” One hand hesitantly reached down to press against his chest, and his breath caught in his lungs as he impatiently, hopefully, waited that for decisive _thump-thump_.

But-

_“No.”_

Kuroko flinched as a sudden wind blew, violently pushing away the fog around him with a chill as cutting as knives. It was so rapid that by the time he had raised his arms instinctively to guard against it, it had already passed. The boy blinked, squinting between his raised arms to finally see what the fog had shrouded all this time. His nose twitched, smelling unfamiliar scents, and his eyes widened as he saw-

“The…sea?”

The sky was a dark grey above the still waters, a feeling of discontent and simmering rage within the heavy clouds that concealed the blue that peaked between them. Small shards of sunlight pierced through their depths to shine little glitters of gold onto the mirror-like surface of the water beneath. Stepping closer, Kuroko realised it wasn’t the sea after all, but a large lake, with the farthest edge still concealed by the bordering fog.

A single figure crouched on the grassy edge before him, a fishing pole lying discarded beside him. An empty bait tin lay close by, opened and, from what Kuroko could see, never filled in the first place. He seemed to be a young boy, a middle schooler at most. Dressed in casual shorts and a t-shirt, the pale skinned boy seemed to not notice the other boy’s presence as he sat facing the lake with an unnatural stillness. Kuroko approached cautiously to stand beside him at the bank. No heartbeat thumped against the hand pressed to his chest, and no attempt to communicate with the other boy was made. The lonely knowledge existed as it had always had: He wouldn’t be able to see him anyway.

Glancing to the side, Kuroko’s breath caught in his throat as he finally caught a glimpse at the other boy’s face. The skin had not been just pale, as he had assumed, but paper white, in sharp contrast to the boy’s inky black hair cut short. And the boy’s eyes-

The feeling of bile rising up to his mouth overwhelmed him, and he quickly turned to look away.

Where the eyes should have been were two dark, empty holes. It was not as if his eyes had been gouged out, but as if all that existed there were those two voids that invited and beckoned emptiness. Black ink ran down pure white cheeks from them in a way reminiscent of tears, but the boy’s face was expressionless.

There was no sadness, only hollowness.

The boy remained motionless, seemingly unaware of Kuroko’s presence, and continued staring out at the lake’s surface. Kuroko followed his lifeless gaze, and turned his attention to the lake itself.

The water was black. He had mistaken its colour for lake’s deep depth, but now he realised that what filled this lake was black as ink. He was reminded of the tear tracks of the boy beside him. No ripples disturbed the solemn waters, it was as still as a mirror, and reflected the stormy sky above perfectly on its obsidian surface.

Lifeless. It was as dead as he was.

A surge of anger and rage rose in his chest, and a scream ripped out from his throat. Kuroko found himself viciously kicking a nearby stone into the lake, a stick, a spray of dirt, the carelessly thrown away lid of the boy’s bait tin. ‘Move!’ his lips mouthed. ‘Move, move!’

The lake simply swallowed them all. No ripples or waves disturbed the surface as the objects calmly sank below, and soon it was as if nothing had even occurred. Kuroko fell to his knees, an unexplainable tiredness enveloping his body as he stared at the unmoving waters. His eyes began to burn hot as moisture gathered between his eyelashes. He-

_“It’s no use throwing things into the lake you know.”_

The ghost flinched at the sudden, boyishly high pitched voice. It had an opaque quality to it, as if the sound had trekked through mud. He turned to the figure beside him, almost flinching again as he saw the eyeless, black and empty gaze directed solely at him. The boy smoothly got up from his crouch as he nimbly picked up his fishing pole, his two black voids never breaking their gaze. Kuroko almost stepped back as the boy approached him and solemnly held out the pole toward him.

_“You can only fish things out.”_

The ghost stared at him, uncomprehending, but he found his fingers grasping the fishing pole all the same. The young boy finally broke his gaze and turn away to resume his initial position on the bank, once again as still as a statue. Kuroko stared at him, before turning his attention to the fishing pole in his hands. He had not expected it to be of the modern, carbon fibre variety, and he was strangely pleased to experience the smooth feel of bamboo caressing his fingers. No bait or lure was attached to the simple hook at the end of the line, but looking at the unfilled and unused bait tin, he suspected none was needed.

Sighing, and a part of him asking why he was attempting any of this, he cast his line into the black depths of the lake. He held his breath as the hook hit the surface, and let it go with disappointment as it sunk smoothly into the waters like the stones and sticks he had previously kicked in. Once again, no ripples disturbed the lake’s water. His grip on the bamboo fishing rod began to loosen, and the desire to let go and stop this pointless task grew. One hand had already dropped from the rod to hang loosely at his side, when-

Blue eyes widened and he raised his left hand again to grasp tightly onto the fishing rod. Something had begun to tug half-heartedly on the hook. A tentative grin appeared on Kuroko’s lips, before a sudden strong pull threatened to topple him into the lake. A bright laugh escaped his lips as he caught his balance and threw his entire body weight into pulling back. Inch by inch he was winning, and finally he saw rippling circles distorting the smoothness of the mirror lake. Soon small waves danced among them, and an unexplainable joy began to rise as he felt his catch rise and rise and-

_Wide eyes stared shocked at him as an arm lashed out to connect solidly onto his head with vicious purpose._

Kuroko froze. The pull on the other end of the fishing rod nearly overcame him as his efforts suddenly came to a stop.

_The figure fell to his knees, but attempted to stand up again as he raised his arms in an instinctive response to defend himself. It did nothing to help against the next kick to the face._

He let go of the rod and watched it get pulled and sink into the black depths of the lake. “What…what was that?”  
_He rolled with the impact of the kick and toppled to the ground. A rapid response to get up again was cut short as the figure found himself straddled. Small, pale fingers reached out-_

“No.” Kuroko wrapped his arms around himself and backed away from the lake’s shore. The ripples had not ceased. In fact they had grown more violent and rapid as waves danced turbulently between them. Whatever he had begun to pull up from the waters no longer needed his input. It was rising on its own.

It was…a memory.

_Hunting, sensual and dangerous as snakes-_

He dropped to his knees, the damp grass wetting his trousers, and covered his head with his arms. “No, no, no…..sink. Sink.”

_Gently, carefully they wrapped themselves around a neck-_

“Sink!” His voice was beginning to grow hoarse as panic thudded in his chest, a poor imitation of his absent heartbeat.

_Their hold tightened, slowly, carefully like a hangman’s noose. The body began to struggle, twitching, thrashing as its hands reached up in a futile effort to prise the paler hands off. Tears of agony and fear welled up in its featureless eyes, its mouth gaping in silent screams as it struggled, struggled so hard to live-_

“SINK!”

_It was nameless and faceless, but oh so easy to see the hair as dark red, the skin as tanned, the eyes angrily defiant in their terror and pain. So easy so see Kagami-kun’s death._

Tears warmed his chilled skin as they dripped down his cheek. He looked up to glare hatefully at the black lake’s lively surface, at what was struggling to rise up.

_So easy to see himself killing Kagami-kun._

He got to his feet and turned away from the sight of rippling inky waters beginning to still. His quiet voice cracked with unreleased sobs.

“Sink…and never rise.”

* * *

 

The room was unbearably cold. A chill wind relentlessly blew through the open window, displacing the fluttering papers from their rightful place on his desk’s surface. His full-length mirror had completely fogged up in response to the mist that lazily crawled in from the dark and grey weather outside.

Kise cursed underneath his breath as he strode into his bedroom to wrench the open window closed. He must’ve forgotten to close it in the morning before he left for school. Turning to face the rest of the room, he grimaced at the sight of damp blankets on his bed, along with the scattered and slightly wet papers that covered his bedroom floor. Now that he thought about it, he remembered the light drizzle of rain that had pattered against the classroom windows during 3rd period.

_‘Well shit. I hope none of those are homework.’_

Sighing, he ran a hand through his blonde (naturally blonde, he’d never really questioned it despite his pure Japanese heritage. Actually come to think of it what was up with his past teammates’ hair colours, were they even natural?) hair and set about tidying his room. Carelessly throwing his schoolbag to its designated corner, he dropped to his knees and began picking up all the loose papers, one eye beginning to twitch as one of them ripped in his hands, too softened by moisture.

A tired groan escaped his lips as he rose to his feet again after gathering them all, followed by a surprised yelp as he somehow managed to bang his scalp on a corner of his desk. It swiftly transitioned into a pained whine, but Kise attempted to ignore his agony as he settled the desk lamp and a pile of books about to topple over on the desk’s surface.

He however, failed to save a picture frame from falling off the edge. A quiet crack seemed to echo in the evening greyness.

A sudden silence seemed to descend upon the room as the pained whine abruptly cut off. Kise quietly stared at the frame, before moving towards it on his hands and knees to reverently pick it up. Shattered glass faintly clinked as they fell from his hands as he raised the now broken frame back onto its rightful place on his desk. He stared unmovingly at the photo within, before releasing another annoyed sigh as he moved away to begin picking up the glass shards from the floor.

Six faces laughed or smiled with various levels of cheer at the photographer. A tall purple-headed giant smiled with his eyes closed, a snack in his mouth and one hand raised up to a victory sign. The other arm rested on the shoulder of a bespectacled green haired boy, a gentle smile on his lips as he rose up one hand to eye level, his fingers covered with finger puppets. On the other side of the purple-haired boy was a shorter, red headed boy, his arms crossed and his posture elegant. His smile was more secretive than outright cheerful. A blue-haired boy laughed at the photographer with his hands behind his head on the other half of the photo, beside him stood a pink-haired girl dwarfed by the boys in stature. She was laughing as well, forming a heart with her hand with the help of Kise, equal in cheer as he laughed along with them, his eyes closed.

And the boy who stood between them, who stood with their heart before his chest was…

Kise almost jumped to his feet as his phone suddenly rang shrilly. His heart thumping loudly, he carefully moved the glass pieces onto a piece of paper before moving to pick up his phone from his bag.

“Hello? Ki-chan?”

“Huh? Momoicchi! Hey! How you doing?”

“Fine, Ki-chan. We just called a few hours ago, why are you talking like we haven’t talked in months?”

“Uh, you just surprised me. Surely you can’t be calling because-“

Momoi’s voice took on a somewhat prideful tone. “Actually I AM calling because I’ve already collected all the information you asked for.”

Kise whistled, impressed. “I only called you at least two hours ago.”

“Ahahaha, Ki-chan really shouldn’t underestimate me. I thought you would’ve learned by now.”

_‘No…she’s improved. She wasn’t this good in Teikou…’_

“Ahem, anyway. Furihata Kouki, No.12 in Seirin High School’s basketball team, though I suppose you already know that considering your practice match with them today. Sixteen years old; birthday is on November the 8th, it looks like he’s a Scorpio. Height 170cm; Weight 60kg. There’s nothing particularly outstanding about him in either physical or mental ability; he was ranked 39th in the entrance exam. The same can be said for this middle school and grade school life – nothing particularly outstanding.”

Kise blinked. “What about his basketball?”

“He’s a beginner. He only began to play basketball this year, apparently to fulfil a promise to a crush – ah, how sweet youth is….anyway, he appears to be well suited for the position of Point Guard. Further training on his part could result in a relatively strong opponent in the years to come – well, nothing in comparison to the Generation of Miracles I suppose.”

_‘He’s a beginner? Him?’_

“Kagami Taiga, on the other hand, is very interesting. He-“

“Momicchi, are you completely sure about Furihata Kouki’s data?”

He could hear an annoyed puff from the other end. “Who do you think I am? Of course I’m completely sure. His information was so boring that I had to scour everywhere for anything worth finding. I am, very, sure.” Her voice took on a dangerous tone. “What could possibly make Ki-chan doubt my abilities, hm?”

Kise blanched. “Ah…I didn’t mean to doubt your godly, ‘one of a kind’ skills or anything it’s just…” He paused.

“Ki-chan?”

His next words were quiet and uncertain. “It’s just…today I saw Furihata Kouki…Today I saw him use Misdirection.”

The other end of the line went silent. Kise began to wonder if Momoi had left the phone, until she suddenly spoke again, her voice quiet and serious. “…Are you sure Ki-chan?”

A tired, cheerless laugh escaped his lips. “I’ve seen Misdirection being used almost throughout my middle school life, Momoicchi. I wouldn’t mistake it. It was…it was definitely Misdirection.”

Another silence fell on the other line, before Momoi spoke again. “…well, this is embarrassing. Looks like I missed something, ehehehe.”

Kise frowned. _‘I thought she’d argue a bit more. And Momoicchi’s never missed anything before. What…’_

“I’ll look into Furihata Kouki again. I’ll check over my data of Kagami Taiga as well to make sure I haven’t missed anything there either. I’ll call you back, Ki-chan!”

“Uh-no wait-“ Kise’s face fell as he heard the beep announcing the end of the call. He pulled away the phone from his ear to stare puzzlingly at the screen.

“…What was that?”

 

* * *

 

Momoi Satsuki stared silently down at her pink cellphone after flipping it closed. A tinge of guilt of weighed down on her as she quietly lowered it to let her hands hang freely. A sad smile appeared on her lips and she leaned back against the alley wall.

“Sorry, Ki-chan…but this isn’t something I can be entirely truthful to you to.”

_‘...We need to check. Furihata Kouki…this could all be a coincidence…but we need to check. And if it isn’t a coincidence, if it really is…’_

Momoi’s hands began to shake, and she brought them up to curl into fists under her chin. Letting out a stuttered breath, she closed and opened her eyes with a calm intensity.

_‘…I need to call Akashi-kun.’_

Slowly, almost reluctantly, she relaxed her tight grip on her cellphone underneath her chin and flipped it open. Biting her lip, she began scrolling through her contacts and-

The pink-haired girl blinked and looked up at her surroundings. The old, ivy covered stone walls and the cracked concrete sloping downhill to the main street seemed to stare innocently back. _‘…Strange…I thought I saw…aha!’_

“Huh? Midorin? What are you doing here?”

The mop of green behind the corner to the main street flinched, before a tall, bespectacled boy shuffled into view with an aloof expression on his face. The embarrassed blush coating his cheeks betrayed him however, creating a strange colour combination with his forest green hair. A pair of spiral glasses lay perched on his head, further ruining his attempt to appear cool and serious. The boy cleared his throat, bringing up his taped fingers of his left hand to push his glasses up on the bridge of his nose. The other hand attempted vainly to hide a small paper bag behind his back.

Momoi smiled. “You’re too tall to try to hide behind one of these alleyway stone fences, Midorin.”

Midorima sniffed. “I wasn’t hiding.”

“Ehhh…really now?” The boy shifted uncomfortably under her mock scrutinising gaze before she left it up. “Well, it sure is a surprise to see you here Midorin! What brings you this way?”

“I’m on my way home from team practice, of course. I don’t see how any of this is strange.”

“I know your house is in the opposite direction, Midorin.”

Midorima’s desperately calm expression seemed to sour. “I decided to do extra training and take a longer, more scenic route.”

“Hm…I see…and what’s that you’ve got in that paper bag?” Momoi stepped nimbly around him to take a peek, but the green-haired boy slightly turned to hide it more efficiently from her. A brief silence descended upon the two, Midorima beginning to sweat nervously under his ex-manager’s expectant gaze.

“It’s…it’s my lucky item for the day.”

“So it wasn’t that pair of glasses?” The girl pointed at the strangely charming eyeglasses that glinted their spiral design proudly in the sunset glow.

“…There were two for today.”

“Ah…I see.” Momoi’s tone of voice made it clear she did not believe him.

Another brief pause began, before Midorima finally broke under the cruelly unrelenting pressure the girl bore down on him.

“…Virgos are ranked last today. Oh Asa especially warned that something might happen once the sun set…Since he’s such an idiot, I thought I should hand him his lucky item for today before heading home.”

Momoi blinked, her rose eyes widening before a delighted chuckle escaped her lips. Midorima’s blush further reddened, and she smiled widely at him.

“You’re such a tsundere, Midorin.”

“I am not.”

“Well, I might as well come with you. I just came back from there but it looks like I accidently left something behind.” It was a lie, but she suspected he would need some moral support to gather the courage to visit.

“Do as you wish.” Quickly losing his defeated tone, Midorima pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose. He was careful not to dislodge the other, spiral pair, from the top of his head. The boy began to stride through the alleyway, and Momoi fell easily into step beside him.

“So, what IS the lucky item for Virgos today?”

The green-haired boy wordlessly handed the paper bag over to her. Taking it into her hands, she glimpsed inside and immediately snorted into laughter.

“Pffffttthahaha, what- what were the specifications?”

“Only that it had to be a barrette…but this was the only one I could find under such a short time.”

The said barrette was white and adorned enthusiastically with Hello Kitty patterns. Its plastic clasp was carefully blunt – it was obviously designed for children. Momoi held back another peal of laughter and handed the bag back to her companion. Smiling, she looked to her feet as they walked.

“…Thank you, Midorin.”

Midorima did not reply, but a sad tinge seemed to colour his eyes as he gripped the paper bag more tightly in his hand.

 

* * *

 

The thread-bare net of the old basketball goal swished faintly as a ball fell almost perfectly through the hoop. The chipped and faded backboard was mounted on an unstable and creaky support, casting long shadows onto the equally old and untended court in the evening sunset. Kuroko watched the ball’s progress blankly, his vision blurring in and out.

As always, black shadows bordered his view. The inky black tendrils reminded him too much of the lake’s mirror surface, and an instinctive shudder rippled through his body. Blinking off the feeling of haziness and murkiness that weighed heavily down upon his incorporeal body, he rose up from his half-sunken position within the concrete and began floating upright.

“Huh? Kuroko?! Kuroko is that you??”

The ghost turned slowly, his body wading through the air as if it were mud. Kagami stood before him, sweat on his forehead glinting in the sunlight. He had taken off his black gakuran, and his white button up shirt was rolled up to his elbows. From the well-used and slightly flat basketball tucked casually underneath his arm, Kuroko realised he had been the blurry figure playing street-ball by himself. The ghost squinted up at his face, difficult considering how his vision was drifting in and out of focus, but it appeared to express something akin to surprise and relief.

“…Kagami-kun.”

The tall red-head seemed to let out a relieved sigh as he reached out to tousle Kuroko’s light-blue hair. The feeling of his hand against his head was as dull and muted as always, almost as if Kagami had just grazed the air above his skin.

Kagami’s gentle expression soon clouded over to something angrier. “You worried me when you freaking disappeared like that! I’ve never seen you do that before, just…fade away to nothing. I thought…”

Kuroko blankly stared up at him as the taller boy rubbed the back of his own neck awkwardly. “I almost thought you were gone for good.”

A delicate silence settled upon the two. Kuroko blinked in a way reminiscent of sleepiness as he noticed Kagami’s roughly and inelegantly cut fingernails, almost as if he had bitten them in worry. His gaze saddened, and he turned away from his friend. Sweeping a glance at his surroundings, he noticed the rusted and broken fence bordering the edge of the old, cracked concrete of the basketball court, and the dark shadows of the forest-like bush behind it.

“…where’s this?”

Kagami seemed a bit confused at the question, but answered nonetheless. “The abandoned basketball court near the park.”

“Ah….where we first met.”

An embarrassed chuckle escaped the red-head’s lips. “I dunno why, but I thought I might find you here or something.” He held up the old, worn basketball in his arms. “I decided to distract myself instead of worrying too much about it. I found this behind one of the bushes, I think it’s the one you used to use all the time here.”

The ball did indeed look familiar. Kuroko stared nostalgically at it for a while, before soon sweeping his attention back to the other boy. “Kagami-kun.”

“Hm?”

“Can you promise me something?” His quiet voice fluttered with something hidden beneath the usual monotone, and Kagami could not but help feel cautious.

“…what is it?”

Kuroko stared directly into his eyes then. They were a clear blue as always, and yet something darker seemed to lurk within their depths. The ghost seemed so incorporeal and unreal at that moment, even more so than usual. Kagami felt tempted to reach out, to see if his hand would touch something or just encounter wisps of nothingness.

“Could you…could you not try to find out about my past. Please.”

Kagami stared sadly at him. “If it really means that much to you, then I’ll honour your wish. But…” He turned away to replace the basketball in its usual hiding place within the bushes. “I want to know why.”

“…That’s alright. When we get home…I’ll tell you.”

Kagami nodded, and headed over to the side of the court where his schoolbag and discarded gakuran lay. Slipping on the black overgarment, he swung his bag over his shoulder and began heading out towards the main street. His stomach growled plaintively, and his hard expression weakened to something more pathetic. “Ah...I’m hungry. Do you mind if we stop for Magi Burger on our way home?”

“It’s no problem.” Kuroko watched the taller boy trudge his way out of the court before following a few metres behind. The sun had almost set by now, and he could see the moon beginning to peak behind the darkened clouds above. Staring up at the pale, glowing orb, he was reminded of a recent memory.  

_"Ah, that reminds me. There was something else Coach Riko told us about the Generation of Miracles that I forgot to mention."_

_"Hm?" Kuroko floated horizontally above the living room couch as he flipped through a library book he’d forced Kagami to borrow from him. He’d been admonished many times to get off the couch if he wasn’t actually going to sit on it, but he liked the feeling of lying back against something, even if he couldn’t truly touch it._

_Kagami scratched the back of his head. He held a spatula in the other hand and wore the apron his father had apparently sent to him as a gift – it looked strangely charming on him as the large teddy bear in the centre ate a cookie as large as its own head. "Well…I dunno, but it appears that one of them quit basketball after entering high school. He hasn't entered the team. Aho…ahomine…I think it was?"_

_"No matter how much a parent may dislike their own child, I'm pretty sure they wouldn't hate him so much they would name him 'idiot'." Kuroko flipped over a page, uninterested. Kagami irritably threw a dishcloth at him, only for it pass harmless through his head._

The ghost shook off the memory and hurriedly floated over to close the increasing distance between him and the very hungry Kagami. Now that it was very likely he had been acquainted with the Generation of Miracles in the past-

_“No.”_

Kuroko closed and opened his eyes, willing his thoughts away. _“I don’t want to know.”_

_“I don’t want to know anything.”_

 

* * *

 

The elevator door pinged open to reveal a brightly lit hallway gleaming white. It was strangely quiet and almost empty in the evening hours, compared to the almost hectic floors below, but Midorima could understand why. A lone cleaner mopped the tiled floor tirelessly, and he exchanged friendly greetings with Momoi as they made their way through the corridor. Midorima wondered how often she visited to become a familiar face here.

They stopped before the ninth door on the left. A paper placard adorned the door, a familiar name written in a familiar hand. The door quietly clicked as Momoi gently pulled down the handle and pushed the door open.

The room was dark. The curtains had been pulled closed, blocking the last rays of the sun and it began to set. Even so, Midorima could see a figure lying motionlessly on a hospital. A bag full of intravenous fluid hung from a metal stand beside the bed, the small tube attached to the inside of the figure’s left arm. A small homely wooden cabinet was pushed to the side, somewhat out of place in the clinical and sterile environment the hospital room provided.

“Good Evening, Dai-chan. It looks like I’m visiting twice today~”

“…Good Evening, Aomine.”

The figure in the bed remained silent, but neither of the two visitors seemed surprised. Momoi began bustling around the hospital room, pulling the curtains open to reveal the warm glow of the setting sun. She had turned her face away from Midorima the moment she had entered the room, probably to hide her expression.

The green-haired boy quietly placed the Hello Kitty barrette on the nearby cabinet piled with get well cards and bouquets of flowers. Some seemed to have wilted, and the boy wordlessly swept the dried, fallen petals into his hands, and then dropped them into the nearby bin.

Momoi had pulled out two of the chairs intended for visitors and dragged them to the bedside. Plopping herself onto one lightly, she gave a gentle grin to the figure who lay prone on the bed.

“You have another visitor today, Dai-chan, aren’t you happy?”

Midorima slowly stepped towards his own chair, but only stood behind it to tacitly grip the backrest with one hand. Silently, he gazed upon the bed.

The dark-skinned boy seemed unnaturally small underneath the stark white blankets of the hospital bed. His dark blue hair was beginning to seem overgrown, the end of the longest strand already reaching the tip of the boy’s shoulder. His cheeks were sunken, and the collarbones above the edge of the blanket seemed more prominent than Midorima remembered. His skin was too pale, his lips too dry, cracked and colourless. His eyes were closed, and Midorima tried to imagine the boy’s usual vibrantly lively eyes on him now. He found he could not even remember how they looked. The boy’s tanned hand lay motionless as Momoi slowly reached out to grip it in her own, smaller and paler one.

Midorima shifted uncomfortably, finding himself awkward in the presence of such fragility. Momoi’s other hand rose to cover the lifeless fingers. From his position, it looked like she was praying.

Midorima knew Aomine Daiki would not wake. He hadn’t for the last 8 months.

He didn’t know if he ever would.

 

* * *

 

_Did you forget? Did you lose your way?_

_She clasped her bleeding feet,_

_Bare but for the shards of glass._


	8. the superior

chapter six: the superior

 

* * *

 

 

_“His talent was as natural as the pattern that was made by the dust on a butterfly's wings. At one time he understood it no more than the butterfly did and he did not know when it was brushed or marred. Later he became conscious of his damaged wings and of their construction and he learned to think and could not fly any more because the love of flight was gone and he could only remember when it had been effortless._ _”_

_― Ernest Hemingway_

 

* * *

 

The way back home was uncomfortably, oppressively silent. Kagami found himself unable to turn his head back to even to a small degree to look upon his ghostly companion, presumably following behind. He opened his mouth to begin a conversation – about the weather, about burgers – about anything, but all words seemed to die in his throat. A despondent sigh left his lips as he adjusted the large Maji Burger paper bag full of at least 20 burgers in his arms, wincing as the crinkling sound stabbed viciously into the silence.

“Kagami-kun.”

Kagami almost tripped as Kuroko suddenly spoke behind him, his voice as soft and indistinct like the breeze. Abashed, he righted himself as he kept his gaze awkwardly forwards. “Uh. Yeah?”

“You said you’d buy some snacks to eat before dinner but…you got twenty burgers.”

“Yeah so?”

“…You’re going to be eating dinner after those?”

“Of course I am, I’ve never skipped dinner once in my life.”

“…where does that all even go to? It can’t be your brain…”

“Hey!” Kagami spun on his heel, his eyebrow already beginning to twitch indignantly. His hotheaded outburst found itself unable to leave his lips like the words before it, and his mouth thinned into an uncomfortable grimace.

_‘Ah.._ _’_

Kuroko floated a few steps before him, gently bobbing up and down as if held up by ocean waves. His left arm gripped his right sleeve loosely, and his pale eyes were stiffly fixed to the right, as if afraid to meet his eyes. The uncomfortable silence returned with a vengeance, and Kagami found himself frozen in its dense air. He could feel Kuroko’s attempt at casual conversation easily begin to die, and like a desperate fool, wildly tried to save it.

“I!!”

Kuroko seemed to jerk upwards in shock, the eyes he’d kept fixated on the nearby bushes dragged to the red-head before him.

“I…I’m sorry.”

Kuroko cocked his head to the left in confusion. Kagami sighed deeply, one hand reaching back to fiddle with a loose thread on his shirt. “Back then…when I said…when I said you’d kill me.”

Kuroko froze, but Kagami launched bravely into his words.

“I was just pissed off okay? I don’t actually believe it, it was just something I mouthed off in the heat of the moment! I…I wouldn’t think of…I would believe something like that.” Kagami sighed. “I didn’t think it’d affect you that much, but it was a terrible thing to say anyway. I’m sorry I mouthed off.”

He ended his sentence to silence. Unable to find the courage to lift his head, Kagami waited uncomfortably for a reply. A cool autumn wind began to blow, scattering the orange leaves around them.

“….no…”

Kuroko did not look at him, his eyes drawn to some far off distance.

“…it’s not…it’s not entirely…false.”

_‘Don_ _’t you care? Don_ _’t you love me?_ _’_

_‘Why can_ _’t you understand? This is all your fault._ _’_

His eyes closed briefly, before opening into a half-lidded state.

“It’s probably not false at all.”

 

* * *

 

 

The doorbell clinked gently as the boy closed the clinic door behind him, stepping into the brisk cold of the evening breeze. Furihata shivered, but found himself too lazy to take his sweater out from his bag. His head felt heavy, he couldn’t tell if it was because of his actual headache, or the many layers of bandages haphazardly wrapped around his head. Coach Riko had dragged him off to the local medical clinic the moment he had felt well enough to get up from the bed, and though the doctor who looked at him said he’d be fine with a good rest, it hadn’t stopped her from turning the top half of his head into a mummy. She probably would have done something even more drastic if he hadn’t been rescued by Hyuuga-senpai and the rest of the team who’d rushed over as soon as they could, but she’d managed to shove a bottle of painkillers and a can of Pocari Sweat before being dragged away by the captain.

The sun burned orange, low in the sky and about to touch the ground. He gazed tiredly at the approaching sunset, half-covered by the masses of buildings and bridges making up his decidedly non-rural environment. Such was the life of a city-boy, and Furihata didn’t give it much more thought as he began to make his way home. His long, stretched shadow accompanied him as he walked along the sidepath, his steps muted with the lazy air of an orange evening. Turning a corner, he paused as he caught sight of an old grandma, leaning precariously on her cane as she waited for a crossing light to turn green, four heavy looking shopping bags resting at her feet. Coming to a quick decision, he made his way towards her. His head ached, increasingly becoming more painful with every step he took, but he ignored it. She’d need help with those bags while crossing the road, and it didn’t sit well on his conscience to ignore an elderly who looked as if she’d fall over with the slightest breeze.

He was only a few strides away when it happened.

The old lady’s walking cane slipped on the tiled pavement, and her knees buckled as her main support fell sideways. Furihata felt himself freeze as he heard the blaring horn of a truck from within the busy afternoon traffic. Tyres skidded and Furihata ran, his arm automatically stretched forwards. It must have been only seconds, but the moment seemed stretch, and he watched with horrific trepidation as the old lady fell forward onto the road, into the path of a barrelling truck.

He blinked. The truck rushed along, unable to slow down despite the smell of burnt rubber from the skidding wheels.

A dull thud seemed to resound through the air, in its own sphere of sound from the loud screaming and blaring car horns. His feet slammed to a standstill, his arm still hovering, shaking in the air. His breathing was loud, too loud in his ears. It was the only thing he could hear, save for the dull thud echoing again and again in his mind.

The four shopping bags rustled quietly in the evening breeze.

Furihata blinked again.

The road was empty. The sun peeped its last rays out from the far distance, the last light of the quickly darkening sky. It was well past the rush hour and time of crowded streets. Furihata stared at the empty scene in front of him, his legs still cemented to the ground, his arm outstretched towards nothing.

There was no truck. There was no old lady. No blood, no still body, no dying breaths. His eyes slid to the adjacent sidepath, widening at his final visual proof.

The four shopping bags were gone.

Furihata finally lowered his arm, staring blankly at the empty crossing before him. Feeling his body beginning to shake, he wrapped his arms around himself. He didn’t know if he was cold from or going into shock. Maybe a bit of both. He could already feel his breath quickening, an early sign of hyperventilation.

‘No, no, calm down…breathe…breathe damn you!’ Gripping his school bag tightly as if to ground himself, he backed away from the scene. He needed to get out. He didn’t understand. What had he seen? Was it real? Was he going mad? He needed to get out. He needed to get away from this place. Turning blindly, a breathless yelp left his throat as he nearly barrelled into someone.

“ARrghhh…ah..I’m sorry! I wasn’t watching where-huh?”

Somewhere in the deep, panicking recesses of Furihata’s mind, a realisation that something was wrong began to form. The woman into front of him stood silently in front of him, her pale green dress stained black in one large patch on her chest. Her long, unwashed and uncombed black hair covered most of her face, showing nothing but unhealthily pale skin and one bloodshot, unblinking eye staring directly into his eyes. Her bare feet were positioned awkwardly on the pavement, her body tottering to and fro as if she couldn’t keep her balance on them.

“Miss, are you alright? Do you need some help-“

The woman’s head suddenly listed off to the side as if her neck could no longer support it, and Furihata froze. Her long hair had hidden it well, but now as it fell to the side he could see it now. Something in his mind clicked, and his instinct began to scream at him to run, run far away.

The woman did not break eye contact with him, not once. Her entire forehead was caved in, one eye crushed in its socket, and yet the woman never looked away.

He stepped back, eyes wide and unable to break contact with hers. Her chapped lips suddenly widened into a formless grin, stretching her deaded skin to the point of tearing. One hand rose slowly as if to touch him, and he flinched away, but not before she managed to leave the feeling of cold, clammy fingertips on his forearm.

"You...can...se..seeee....hehehehe." Her voice was gravelly, ending on something close to a whisper. "You can see you can see you can seeeee you can see you-"

Furihata had had enough. Spinning on his soles he sprinted away from the terrifying woman, clutching his bag to his chest where his heart thudded uncontrollably. He couldn't think, he couldn't understand, ' _What's happening? What's going on?'_

The memory of his earlier dream suddenly rose, and the chilling sensation of black, cold water surrounding him despite his struggles, despite his panic, despite his desire to live-

_'It's not fair! I want to live! Why! WHY!' The blue haired boy screamed, his body broken, with nothing but the black inky darkness to hear his lament, and Furihata felt fear so strongly in his very core for the first time in his life, he wanted out, he wanted to get away from here, he wanted this dream to stop because the boy scared him in ways he couldn't understand and he wanted to get away-_

Furihata shook his head rapidly, willing himself not to think about it. Slowing down to a jog, he casually glanced around him. He hadn’t exactly planned running off into a random direction, and he needed to find how to get home from here, wherever ‘here’ was. His eyes drifted, and with morbid curiousity he turned to look behind him at the quickly darkening alleyways. Surely the woman hadn’t followed him…right?

_‘No_ _…there_ _…at the shadow of the alley wall_ _…what_ _’s that?_ _’_

A speck of darkness, too black and cold to be just shadow, erratically jumped side to side in an awkward parody of skipping. It was slow, pausing every now and then to seemingly sniff at the air. Furihata squinted. Was it some stray dog or cat? It was too dark to see.

It stopped at the edge of the alleyway lamppost, but the dim glow of the flickering light was enough, and a breathless gasp left the boy as he stared, horrified.

It was the woman. Except it wasn’t really a woman anymore, wasn’t human or anything possibly natural. Crouched on all fours, her limbs extended out like spider legs, unnaturally bent and stilted. The pale green dress was gone, replaced with something inky black, the edges wisping upward like fire and blending with the natural darkness of the approaching night. Her long hair dragged across the floor as she shuffled crablike across the gravel, but Furihata could still feel her piercing gaze on him, the wide, bloodshot eyes staring blankly.

He couldn’t help it. A scream tore through his throat as he backed away, nearly tripping himself on the cracked concrete as he began sprinting again. Silence followed him for a while, but it wasn’t long before a hissing breath seemed to loom behind him.

“The boy who can seeeee….seeee….seee ME!”

Furihata sobbed, his breath already heavy and gasping. He was still winded from the earlier mad dash and now he could feel the stabbing pain of an oncoming stitch. The loud breathing behind him seemed to be getting closer, and the boy willed himself faster.

_‘Help me_ _…anyone_ _…anything_ _…just help me please_ _…’_

  

* * *

 

 

“I lied.”

Kagami paused in his action of pouring hot roasted barley tea into the two mugs of the coffee table. They’d made the rest of their way back home in uncomfortable silence, Kagami instinctively glancing behind him every few minutes or so to make sure Kuroko was actually there. It was still unnerving sometimes, expecting someone at your back when no footsteps could be heard. Nodding at him to go on, Kagami quietly handed him his warm mug, shivering as the heat left his palm. It seemed to be getting colder in his apartment lately. He had the feeling the heating may have broken down, and he made a mental note to talk to the building manager about it. And maybe also to get the kotatsu out, no matter how early for the season it was.  

Kuroko didn’t even bother his usual motion of pretending to take it with his hands, instead levitating it towards him without moving. He hadn’t even glanced at it, his eyes firmly fixed on the swirling patterns in the wooden table. Kagami blinked. He hadn’t noticed just how more skilled the other boy was getting at controlling his powers. The ghost carefully set it before him on the table, his mouth opening to continue after a hesitant pause.

“When I told you I had no memories before awakening in the park…I lied.”

Kagami sipped at his own tea, the steam rising off it warming his nose. Quietly he waited, watching the other boy visibly shudder, forcing himself to regain his nerve and continue on. Kuroko’s pale hands finally rose to seemingly clutch at his mug, as if trying to feel the heat Kagami knew he could not experience.

“I had one…just one. A memory of times…before. It was my first memory…the only thing I knew when I first woke up.”

A brief pause. Pale eyes finally looked at him, and Kagami felt his heart clench at how utterly sad and lost they looked. The ghost opened his mouth again, and Kagami sat transfixed as his story began.

“There was a boy. He could see me, talk to me…I think it was a memory of when I was alive. But…”

* * *

 

 

His sneakers skidded on the gravelly concrete as he turned a corner. A drum-like beat thudded deep in his chest, soon beginning to drown out his heavy panting. The sky was dark now, the sun had shined its last rays hours ago, and Furihata could hear the quiet ‘pops’ of the old and dingy lightbulbs as they began to dimly light the alleyways. His lungs were beginning to burn; his open mouth already cold and dry from the evening air. How long had he been running? How long had it been chasing him?

_‘No_ _…wait a minute._ _’_

Cautiously, he slowed to a halt. Forcing himself to hold his breath, he ignored his deafening heartbeat to listen. A lone bird chirped, a nearby lightbulb loudly flickered on and off, but other than that….silence.

_‘…I can_ _’t hear anything. I guess_ _…it_ _’s gone. I guess it_ _’s not chasing me anymore._ _’_

Letting out his breath in an explosive gasp, he resumed his erratic wheezing. His bandaged head throbbed hotly, and Furihata groaned as he leaned against a nearby alleyway wall to collapse weakly to his knees. His body seemed immovable now, too tired and no longer running on adrenaline.

_‘What was that? A monster? A ghost? Why was it chasing me? Is it even real? Did I just imagine the whole thing? I mean, these kinds of things don_ _’t exist in real life!_ _’_

Wetness pricked at the edge of his eye and furiously he wiped it off. He’d never hear the end of it from the rest of the team if they ever found out he’d been crying in fear like a baby. Glancing quickly around the alleyway, he shuffled over behind a nearby dumpster, his nose cringing at the wafting smells of rotting fish and eggs. Deeming himself well hidden, he quickly dug into his schoolbag, frantically searching for his phone. It was pitch black now, and he cursed incessantly in frustrated whispers before his shaking hands finally grasped onto it. Letting out a quiet whoop of triumph, he flicked it open.

Black matted hair and a single bloodshot eye met his own as the small phone screen lit up.

A choked scream left his throat as he instinctively tried to back away, the phone falling from his trembling fingers. Trapped in his own hiding place, he could do nothing as deathly white, bruised arms bizarrely bent as if to imitate the limbs of a spider grabbed hold of his legs and pulled. The concrete beneath him scraped his back and his legs kicked, trying to dislodge the cold hands wrapped like manacle on his ankles. He could feel her freezing breath as she grinned her unnerving smile again, and she was muttering again _“the boy can see the boy can see the boy can see-_ _“._ His hands grasped for purchase on the edges of cracked concrete, unmindful of his bleeding fingers as his whole body simply struggled with the single instinctual drive to _get away-_

“How disgusting.”

All movement seemed to stop with the arrival of a new voice, a new presence.

Furihata widened his eyes. His head swung in surprise to the end of the alleyway where two figures stood, their features obscure in the dim evening light. One figure calmly strolled into the flickering light of the broken alleyway lightbulb, his steps confident to the point of oppressive. Furihata found himself frozen in abject terror.

Crimson hair seemed to glow brightly the colour of blood above an eye that gleamed the same colour. There was nothing remotely gentle in those depths. Cold and ruthlessly uncaring, they stared down the monster with something akin to revulsion, the way someone would look at a bug.

_‘Nothing more than something to be stepped on._ _’_

The other was covered by a white medical patch, but instead of making the boy seem fragile, it only served to somehow make the boy even more terrifying and otherworldly. His arms rested beside him, and despite the oddly straight-backed and good posture, the boy radiated a feeling of being so completely in his element, more so than if he’d stuck his hands in the pockets of his school jacket.

The woman snarled, baring her rotting and chipped teeth at the newcomer. Her grip on Furihata’s ankles tightened and he let out a surprised yelp, continuing his struggle to get away. The red-haired boy narrowed his eye at the display, and though his expression stayed perfectly still, Furihata heard a scowl in his voice as he spoke again, this time with something more forceful, something more powerful behind the words.

**_“Get out of my sight._ ** **_”_ **

The woman screeched, letting go of her prize to claw at her face. Her fingers came away stained ink black, and Furihata stared, horrified but too scared to try and stop her. Her pained moans and whimpers grew weaker and quieter with every scratch, every cut, and more and more black ink flowed from her face to pool innocently on the concrete. Furihata glanced at the red-headed boy, but he simply looked on, bored. He wasn’t interested, he didn’t care.

Furihata had had enough. Getting to his feet he stumbled to the woman, keeping a tight lid on his terror as he reached out to grasp the woman’s hands, to stop her hurting herself. A hand suddenly clamped on his shoulder, and he jumped, startled as he turned to look at whoever had stopped him. It was the other boy, the red-head’s companion. Furihata had completely forgotten about him.

An anguished wail pierced the air, and he turned back, trying vainly to shove the iron-like grip off of him. The woman was silent now; her head tipped back, her mutilated face clearly visible to the sky. Her pale flesh could no longer be seen, where her skin hadn’t been clawed into ribbons was covered in black liquid. Only her eye remained, bloodshot and amber in the flickering light of the dying alleyway lamppost. The inky black material of her dress seemed to contract inwards, beginning to swirl into itself like a miniature black hole, and she seemed to fold into herself, smaller and smaller until nothing remained. Her single eye stayed on Furihata the entire time, but this time he could see the emotions behind them, and he choked on a sob.

She looked so sad and scared.

 

* * *

 

 

Kuroko remembered his first memory with such clarity, such certainty, that it made him afraid. His first emotion had been fear, and he still didn’t understand completely why. Words left his mouth as he weaved it into being for the first time, made it even more real with the certainty of voice and sound. The red-headed boy in front of him listened to this first truth, entranced, and Kuroko knew he didn’t want him to. _‘Close your eyes, cover your eyes. Don_ _’t listen to me._ _’_ But it was happening. His words would not stop, and the story continued.

_A single golden eye stared coolly behind strands of scarlet hair. One shaking hand grasped the other eye, but red blood still bled through the cracks between his fingers. The boy did not gasp or stutter in pain, and his next words were calm and clear above the hatred and rage simmering beneath._

_"You'll be alone forever. You won't exist to anyone but yourself. You won't belong. Eventually you'll give in to the despair known as loneliness_ _…and your existence will fade."_

_Kuroko laughed, a cruel, unfamiliar sound leaving his lips with the ease of something familiar. He watched himself like a helpless bystander, unable to control his own body, terror and curiosity mixing uncomfortably together as he watched this savage facsimile of himself._

_“Such strange things you_ _’re saying, for nothing more than a bug underneath my boot._ _” A piercing grin formed on his lips, and it felt so foreign, so strange._ _“You of all people should know to only say threats when you can back them up, Mister High and Mighty Captain._ _”_

_The other boy_ _’s voice was quiet, but chilling all the same._ _“This is no threat. It_ _’s a promise._ _” Blood still ran through his fingers as he got to his feet, body swaying before his knees locked and he stood tall. His anger was dark and terrible and Kuroko loved_ (hated) _it, and he wanted more, so much more_ (he wanted to get away, he didn’t want him to be angry, he was sorry, so sorry don’t-) _and his grin grew lazy and complacent as he stared at this beautiful_ (bitter, sad, his heart clenches in sorrow) _image. The red-head_ _’s gaze was cold and heavy as his next words left him in a whisper._

_“This is_ _…our retribution. This is our curse upon you._ _”_

_Kuroko gasped as something struck him from behind. He didn_ _’t know what it was, nothing should be able to hurt him like this, nothing should be able to touch him! Snarling he whipped around, only to see a lock of pink hair as his vision began to fade. With a surge of panic and the first trace of terror, he reached out with his power to crush it, hearing an agonised cry from its general direction. Remembering the other boy, he whipped back, but it was too late. His vision was pitch black, and he could no longer feel his limbs anymore. He couldn_ _’t feel anything anymore, as if his body was dissolving in the wind, to be blown away with nothing but a gentle breeze. The boy_ _’s voice was indistinct when it spoke again, but Kuroko understood his words with clarity nonetheless._

_“Disappear to nothingness, Kuroko Tetsuya._ _”_

 

* * *

 

 

Momoi jolted awake as the buzz of her vibrating phone pierced the silence of the hospital room. Blearily she rubbed her eyes, looking around at the now dark area. Yawning, she glanced at the clock, but it was too dark to see its face. Quietly, almost reverently, she turned to gaze at the only other occupant in the room.

Her hand still gripped Dai-chan’s. It was warm, whether due to his or her body temperature, probably both. She hoped it was his, if only for a small comfort to know a small something was the same as always. Dai-chan had always run a high temperature.

He hadn’t moved at all since she’d managed to fall asleep, and a part of her wondered why she still hoped for these small miracles. With a wry grin, she reluctantly pulled her hand away to tuck the blankets up to his chin. Glancing around the room, she saw that someone had pulled the curtains back closed and perfectly tidied up the every small detail in the room. A gentle smile formed on her lips. Midorin, as thoughtful and kind as always, no matter how he tried to hide his tsundere personality. Quietly she stepped back from the bed and its single occupant.

“…I’ll be back in a few days, Dai-chan. I know you’ll miss my sunny personality, so I’ll try to visit as soon as possible. Don’t make my visit the only bright moments! You should make friends whilst you’re here you know. The nurses are really nice, they’ll probably give you extra pudding if you made your puppy face at them. Not that you have much a of a puppy face anymore, ew is that a wrinkle underneath your eye? Pfftt you’re too big now Dai-chan! How big did you grow again? 180cm? And you used to be such a shortie as a kid. I suppose it’s just as well you’re a basketball idiot. I’m sure the court misses you just as you miss it so…so come back.” She took another step back. “Come back Dai-chan. I’ve been waiting too long.”

Quietly she opened the door and slipped out, turning to have one final glance at the still figure in the bed. Her next words were nothing more than a whisper.

“I miss you Dai-chan.”

Her phone buzzed again, and she let go of the door handle, letting it shut. She clenched her eyes shut, forcing the tears back, before letting out a tired breath. Grabbing her phone from her jacket pocket, she flipped it open to check the new messages. Her stance stiffened. They were both from Akashi. Which meant…

_Contact with Stray confirmed. He_ _’s been changed. Surveillance is no longer a sufficient plan, I_ _’ll take him under my supervision._

Her breath began to quicken, and her heart thudded as memories of fear and terror gripped tightly onto her. Her free arm wrapped itself around her abdomen, the sensation of being ripped apart still fresh on the ridged scar beneath her clothes.

The next message wasn’t any better, and a small sob escaped her lips.

_He_ _’s come back, Satsuki. Be prepared._

 

* * *

 

_Come back, Return._

_You have no home but the sea, where you can no longer swim,_

_But drown._

 

* * *

 

 

A/N: It probably would’ve been better to just name this chapter: In which Furihata’s day just goes to shit.

 

 


	9. beloved name

A/N: I don’t know if you noticed, and I probably should’ve mentioned this way earlier, but there IS a timeskip between chapter two and three. It’s not too long, maybe a few weeks or so. This whole thing does NOT take less than three days.

Also stopped using them honorifics. Sounded just a bit strange in english - replaced with Mr, Miss, etc.

 

* * *

 

 

“At the temple there is a poem called "Loss" carved into the stone. It has three words, but the poet has scratched them out. You cannot read loss, only feel it.”

― Arthur Golden, Memoirs of a Geisha

 

* * *

 

 

“Um…uh…thanks I guess…for before.”

Furihata shifted awkwardly in the dim light of the quiet 24hour diner. The hard plastic chair was uncomfortable, his tailbone already numb. He couldn’t will himself to move elsewhere though, trapped like a bug underneath the scarlet gaze of the boy before him.

The red-haired boy smiled, or at least, the ends of his lips moved upward. His single eye stared coldly as always, no evidence of mirth or friendly ever present within those depths. He sat like a king on the chair opposite Furihata, somehow making it seem as decadent and opulent as would a throne. His silent companion stood beside him, his posture alert and almost militant. The taller boy’s dark eyes stared unblinkingly out the window, and Furihata wondered if he had moved a single inch since arriving here. Thinking back, he was suspecting he hadn’t.

“I suppose it would be prudent to introduce myself. You may call me Akashi.” He didn’t provide a name for his companion, nor did the other boy offer it.

Furihata opened his mouth hesitantly. “I’m Fu-“

“Furihata Kouki, was it?”

The boy blinked. _How had he…_

Akashi smiled insincerely again. “I’m afraid we’re pressed for time, so I will be frank. That thing you just encountered was not a singularity. There are many more out in the world; a large number exists in this town alone.” The blood red eye blinked, and Furihata shook himself, suddenly freed from its piercing gaze. “Through various circumstances, they are now very aware of you, and I assure you, your encounters with them are not likely to go as swimmingly as your first.”

Furihata stared blankly at him. His hand was awkwardly outstretched towards his own soda, forgotten, and he blushed as he retracted it. Staring down at his lap, he pursued his lips. He had not understood a word the other boy had said.

Akashi continued on. “At this very moment, you are either a liability or asset to me, Mr Furihata. As such, you have two options,” Akashi sipped at his water, as delicately as one would wine. “Join me and my associates, where you can learn more about these occurrences, and understand and better your abilities. You would be safe from these beings, and may even come to the position where you can defend yourself from them, even destroy them.”

Furihata felt his eye twitch. He still had no idea what was going on. “And…the other option?” 

Akashi’s one scarlet eye flickered to stare unblinkingly at the nervous boy before him, who flinched. “I leave you to die at the hands of the other beings. Most of the local ones would have sensed you by now, and the only reason they haven’t swarmed you by now is well…” He leaned back on the uncomfortable plastic chair, somehow making it look like an art. “Me.”

Furihata felt his mouth dry up. His hands beginning to shake on his lap, he tightly gripped his pants to keep them still. “Would they…woul- would they really kill me?” His mind kept flicking back to the spider-woman’s last moments, and the terrified look in her one amber eye. “That one from before, the-the woman. She was scary yeah, but-but in the end she never hurt me. And at the end….she…she looked like a scared child.”

A sudden peal of laughter rang before him, and Furihata whipped his gaze onto the redhead, astonished, and maybe even a little bit terrified. The other boy had turned to the side, one hand covering his mouth in a non-sincere effort to muffle derisive chuckles. A scarlet eye regarded him in amusement, half-lidded but piercing all the same. He felt a bug beneath his gaze, and underneath that wary fear, he felt anger.

Maybe Akashi sensed it, for he dropped his hand to lean on the table with his elbows, his fingers laced underneath his chin. “My apologies. I suppose that was unfair, considering your lack of knowledge on the nature of these beings.”

Furihata crossed his arms defensively. “Will you explain, then?”

Akashi’s smile dropped. “I suppose I should, if only so that you don’t get killed for stupidity.” Furihata twitched, his verbal retort held down by nothing but self-preservation. He had the feeling the boy could crush him as easily as he did the spider-woman. “However we have limited time, and you have many questions. I will answer only three,” He glanced at the other boy, his red eye intense. “Then you must make your choice.”

Furihata swallowed, before nodding jerkily. “Then…then my first question is…what-who was that woman? Why was she chasing me?”

“Those are two questions, Mr Furihata. You only have one left.”

“I don’t mind. Answer them please.”

Akashi closed his eyes in acquiescence. “Very well.” He opened them again slowly, his eyes on Furihata’s tie, but his gaze far off to the distance. “The simplest answer would be that she was a remnant of a past life, what modern society would call a ghost I suppose. The second answer is a bit more complex, and requires a more detailed explanation of the first.” He glanced down at his watch. “A bit pressing for time, but I’ll allow it.”

Furihata glanced at the red-head’s companion. The taller boy was still staring intently out the window, looking reminiscent of an alert guard dog with cocked ears. Furihata felt his heart begin to thud loudly and more quickly. What was he searching for in the dark? What was he waiting for?

_He felt hunted._

If Akashi noticed his inner panic, he ignored it. “I suppose the first thing I should tell you is that despite the alarming similarity, these beings are not ‘ghosts’, in the traditional sense. In a way they can be considered marks left by a person’s life, abandoned upon the individual’s death. The best metaphor I could use for them are sentient photographs. Snapshots of a past time, proof of a person’s memory and existence.”

“So they’re…living memories?”

“You could say that, though the status of ‘living’ could be debated. Memories are tricky things, Mr Furihata. These beings possess nothing but these memories of the individual from which it came – so they believe that they themselves are that individual. However memories are something that no-one can share. Yes, people can share experiences, however each of them will remember that experience differently.”

Akashi glanced sideways outside the window. “And as such, they can never be seen, heard or felt by anyone else. Not by humans, animals, or even other living memories. They are singular entities who exist in a world that will not acknowledge them.” His eyes flicked back to Furihata, a humourless smile on his lips. “Do you feel pity, Mr Furihata? Empathy at their utter isolation and the devastating loneliness they must feel?”

The spider-woman’s terror filled eyes gazed longingly at him beneath Furihata’s eyelids. Blinking it away, he tried to glare at the other boy. “Is that wrong?”

Akashi shrugged unapologetically. “I’m not here to tell you what is right or wrong, Mr Furihata. That is entirely up to you. However, I should mention that these beings do not have true consciousness. Over time they themselves forget who or what they were, and simply run on nothing but the oldest, longest lasting form of memory – emotion. They lose all sense of logic, self-preservation, or rationality.” He turned to stare out the window again, to the grey clouds threatening rain in the black blanket of the sky. “And what is emotion without logical action?”

Furihata stared at him. “…What?”

Akashi’s companion, still nameless after all this time, coughed. The redhead sighed and turned to the brunette, his eyes half-lidded in what could possibly pass as a glare. “Once upon a time there was a sentient sword.”

“Huh?”

He ignored him. “Once upon a time there was a sentient sword, and her heart was full of love.”

Furihata kept his mouth closed this time, and tiredly nodded at him to go on.

“She was very kind heart, and loved everyone and everything. But what can a sword do to express her love? She had no arms to embrace, no lips to kiss, no voice to say ‘I love you’. She had nothing, nothing but a sharp blade and a hilt to wield death. So…what do you think the sword did?”

“…I don’t know.”

A strange smile graced the redhead’s lips. Furihata thought it looked just a bit bitter. “She cut. She slashed. She made them bleed, because it was the closest she could get to those she loved, underneath their skin, through blood and bone to their very core. Because that’s all what a sword can do, and all a sword who has no notion of mortality can understand. She cut, slashed, and killed, all without knowing she was hurting them, without knowing her touches and kisses were lethal and deadly.”

His mouth felt dry, and Furihata reached for his drink. “…What are you trying to tell me?”

"That ‘living memory’ from before, why do you think she chased you?”

“I don’t…no…she kept on muttering the same thing over and over again, about how…about how I could see her.”

“Indeed. As a being unable to be seen, heard or sensed by others in anyway, hers must have been a lonely existence. Watching the world go by as a non-participant, nothing but an outsider, she must have been desperate for someone to acknowledge her existence. Humans are not well adapted for a solitary life, you see.”

“...So she chased me…because she…she wanted a friend?”

Akashi ignored him. “When you saw her, she must have been ecstatic. For the first time in her existence someone had looked at her, seen her, acknowledged that she was there. She must have been happy beyond words, and above all, desperate to keep you. She felt she needed you. To her, you were the key to the victory she could yell to the world: I am here. I am here, I am real and I exist.”

The woman’s last moments, her scared gaze locked onto his own, began to replay again and again in his mind’s eye. Furihata looked to the side, a hand reaching to grip at his bandaged head as a pained frown darkened his visage. “If that’s all she wanted, then why…why did you…kill her?”

“Were you not listening to my story?” Akashi smiled humourlessly. “I stated before that they were not beings of rationality or logic, only emotion. With nothing but the drive to love and possess, she would have done the only thing she could think to do.” His gaze turned cold, and Furihata flinched away. “She would have _devoured_ you. Swallowed you whole and made you hers – leaving nothing but an empty husk.” He smiled coldly. “A body without a conscious.”

Cold sweat began to drip down his forehead, and Furihata surreptitiously wiped it with his forearm. “But this had never happened before – why is this happening now? And who are you?”

Akashi’s companion suddenly shifted, his right foot coming forward and his arms tensing as if readying for a fight. The red head himself glanced briefly at him, before calmly rising to his feet. The insincere smile back on his face, he gazed down at Furihata. “Those were two questions, unfortunately I only agreed to answer one more. Though, I suppose it doesn’t really matter anymore, as we have run out of time. I’m afraid I must ask you to choose, Mr Furihata.” His scarlet eye gleamed menacingly as it stared unblinkingly at him. “Will you join us or not?”

Furihata felt himself begin to hyperventilate again. “Wait, wait! What’s happening? Why are you- what are you all preparing for? What’s going to happen?!”

Akashi watched him detachedly. “Choose quickly, Mr. Furihata. Time is running out.”

“I…I…” The brunette glanced at Akashi’s companion. He was slowly clenching and unclenching his fists, his arms rising to protect his upper body and face. “I…” Akashi himself was still. Motionless, like a photograph, he simply stared unnervingly at him.

“I’ll…I’ll join you!”

 Something black streaked across the room to collide with a loud, resounding crash with the companion’s intercepting fist. Furihata yelped, shutting his eyes instinctively, his hands reaching up to cover his ears. The back of his eyelids suddenly flared red, as if a bright light had suddenly turned on.

Silence ensued. Time seemed to tick slowly in the muted air. Opening his eyes to a squint against the blazing golden brightness, Furihata felt his breath catch.

A large mass of bodies of varying states of decay stared unblinkingly at him, their gazes piercing though their eyes were blank. Pale, lifeless hands reached helplessly towards him, covered in inky shadows drifting slowly over their skin like waltzing tattoos. The closest hand fluttered a foot away from his face, seemingly unable to come closer.

He was illuminated in gold. He sat within a sphere of light hanging on golden dust, a coalition of millions of lantern candles. And in the centre of it all stood Akashi, his stance tall and unafraid with one foot on the table, the other on his seat, that fake smile ever present on his lips. His eyepatch had been ripped away, revealing an empty eye socket dripping inky black blood.

He blinked.

Time and sound returned with a vengeance, and the anguished high pitched screams of the ‘ghosts’ pierced the air. Furihata winced, and stared in mute horror as they were repelled away from him, eaten away by the golden light as if it was acid.

“Like bees to honey. I’m amazed they managed to resist that long.” Akashi smirked with something akin to sadism, the first hint of something true in his expression. This was the happiest Furihata had ever seen him; the golden light seemingly charging him with joy. Furihata personally thought it was rather the screams of the dying and disappearing ‘ghosts’ that did so.

The red-headed boy turned to look down at the still seated Furihata, unaware or more probably, uncaring of his naked left eye-socket. Furihata tried to stare back, but found himself unable to gaze upon that empty gouged out hole, dripping black blood like endless tears.

 “Well then,” Akashi leaned down, one foot on the table between them. He offered a hand to the other boy, an unrepentant grin beginning to form on his lips.

“Welcome to the club, Furihata Kouki.”

 

* * *

 

 

The kettle whistled shrilly in the kitchen, piercing the silence of the living room. Kuroko found his head too heavy to lift, to see Kagami’s expression. His gaze remained on the other boy’s hands wrapped firmly around the mug of now cool tea. They looked pale in the bluish tone of the living room light, and Kuroko wondered if they were cold.

He wanted to stop. He wanted to stop talking, stop the traitorous words leaving his throat, he wanted Kagami to stop listening, he wanted, _he wanted…_

“Kuroko?” Kagami’s tone was undecipherable, and the urge to look up to see his face grew. But…

His hold on his own cup of tea faltered, and Kuroko slowly let it down on the coffee table, the miniscule clink of ceramic on glass loud in the surrounding silence.

“Are you surprised?” His voice trembled, but Kuroko could not find it within himself to feel embarrassment. “Are you...disappointed? That all this time…my only motivations have been fear? No…you wouldn’t consider it true fear would you…you’d call it…”

He saw the other boy’s finger twitch, and Kuroko could not see it as anything other as a recoil.

_Disgust. Disgust. Disgust. He feels disgust. You’re disgusting disgusting disgusting-_

Kagami suddenly felt too far away. Again he felt that overwhelming panic and terror begin to swell, that threat of complete isolation returning once again. The inky blackness stretched its tendrils from the edges of his vision, like predators catching the scent of prey.

_I gave you want you wanted, didn’t I? I told you the truth. Don’t reject me, don’t leave me, don’t leave me to the emptiness again no not again no-_

The lights flickered, the table began to shiver on its legs, as if trembling in fear. Kuroko heard a yelp as their mugs began floating slowly to the ceiling, but it was muted, dull, as if his ears were clogged with water.

_As if he was drowning._

Something squirmed in his hand, and Kuroko realised he had grabbed onto Kagami’s forearm, having half-phased into the table to reach forward. He stared numbly at it, unable to understand how it had gotten there. His fingers dug sharply into the other boy’s skin, above the straining muscle and bone, and Kuroko realised he was holding on too tightly, too painfully.

“…Ku..kuroko? Kuroko what are you…Kuroko?”

_Stop it, you’re hurting him. Let go. Stop. You’re hurting him LET GO._

 “Kuroko Tetsuya! Hey! _Tetsuya_!”

He froze. The black lake loomed in his mind’s eye, where a circular ripple began to form. Stronger and stronger it grew, and large waves pushed and teased at the shore, like sea-tides.

_‘Ready or not here I come! Hahaha you’ll never beat me at hide and seek Tetsuya!’_

_‘Look, look Tetsuya! Come to the sandpit, I made an awesome sandcastle for you! You can be its King!’_

_‘Hey…Tetsuya, why can no one else see you?’_

_‘Tetsuya…what are you doing? Tetsuya?’_

_‘Tetsu-----why-----‘_

_yOu alWAYs hUrt THeM iN thE eND_

He looked up, finally seeing Kagami’s eyes. They were wide, the brown pupils dilated with fear and panic.

“Tetsu…ya?” His voice was hoarse, as if screaming. Maybe he had been, Kuroko did not know.

_Let go, Tetsuya._

He let go.

Kagami immediately cradled his freed arm, pulling it closer towards himself in some instinctive way to protect it. Protect it from him.

Kuroko stared blankly at him. Words from a different voice, a different time talked over each other like a chattering crowd, and over it all he heard his name heard again and again. Happily exclaimed, cheerfully mentioned, quietly whispered, and-

_“Tetsuya? Tetsuya! Please…please don’t…no!”_

Screamed in terror.

Carefully, quietly he floated backward to the other side of the living room, putting maximum distance between them. Kagami looked up, a myriad of emotions on his face, but confusion the most evident.

“Kuroko what-“

The ghost interrupted him. “I…I went on with my life...or should I say existence, ignoring that memory. I pretended it was nothing more than a bad dream. That it wasn’t real. I thought…I thought if I ignored it, it wouldn’t matter, it wouldn’t mean anything. I mean…I’m already dead, right?” He clasped his fingers together, willing them to stop shaking. “A part of me was glad. I could shed that bad skin and start anew. Become a new person, a new existence – someone who couldn’t hurt others. All I had to do was forget and leave that past alone. But then…but then, you wanted to know. And I-“

Kagami had gotten up onto his feet, taking a tentative step forward, his uninjured arm reaching out shyly. Kuroko shook his head, floating backwards and into the wall. “I didn’t want to look back and see the monster I used to be. Most of all I didn’t want you to see it. I didn’t want you to…to leave me. I didn’t want to be alone again. Alone in that park, unheard, unseen, something less than air in that open prison, slowly succumbing to despair and loneliness.”

Kagami stilled, the memory of the red-marker incident suddenly replaying in his mind. It…made sense. Kuroko had never made secret of how unwilling he had been to leave Kagami, but the red-head had never really taken it seriously. Kuroko’s usual emotionless expression had made every incident of clinginess seem like nothing more than a deadpan joke.

“I…I wouldn’t leave you. Why would I? We still haven’t done any of those things you wanted to do. We still have so many of those memories you wanted to make. We’re friends right? We’re going make all those memories together, just like you wanted.”

Kuroko looked up from his intent staring contest with the ground to gaze at the other boy. His eyes looked sad, but Kagami saw something else in those depths, something that could have been resolution.

“I wanted so dearly to leave my past, Kagami. But it would not leave me. I still feel it.” He reached up to cover his eyes with his hands, his blue pupils still staring between the crisscross pattern of his open fingers. “I may have lost my memories…but I lost nothing else. Inside me…blackness crowds my vision like inky madness, and the feeling of causing death lingers on my skin.” His voice lowered to a shaky whisper. “It feels more real than anything else, the sensation sharp on my flesh whilst the rest of the world revolves like a blur.”

Kagami’s dry mouth swallowed as Kuroko slowly lowered his hands. “This is what I’ve come to realise today. This is who I am.”

_And what I am is horrific._

The red head shook his head. “Kuroko…I don’t understand. Just…stop backing away. Come here, sit on the couch, or…something. Stop…you look like you’re going to leave.”

Kuroko cocked his head to the side, a sad smile on his lips. “I don’t know how I managed to let you go the first time. That moment in the subway…was supposed to be the last. It should have been. But then you said all those cool words, and I was so happy. You even gave me my own room in your house. For the first time I had a friend, a home, for the first time it seemed the world acknowledged my existence. And I couldn’t let go of all of that.”

The ghost suddenly floated forward, the tips of his downturned feet just barely touching the wooden floor behind him. His gaze never left the other boy’s, and Kagami found himself unable to move as Kuroko stopped to float directly in front of him.

“..Kuroko?”

Kuroko raised his arms, and Kagami blinked as he found himself enveloped in a hug. The body pressed against him was cold, seemingly numbing his heart. The hold seemed incredibly gentle, as if handling fine china instead of a large teenage boy…as if afraid to hurt him again. His eyes seemed to burn, and Kagami blinked again in wonder as tears began to drip down his face. He was crying, why was he crying? What was making him so sad?

Kuroko’s grip loosened, and he felt cold hands between his neck and shoulders. “You said it yourself right? We’re friends, and friends look out for each other. Friends help and protect each other.” The ghost finally leaned back to look back into Kagami’s eyes, his eyes unreadable. A helpless smile made its way back onto his lips.

“Even from themselves.”

There was no fanfare, no dramatic smoke or wind.

He was simply gone.

Kagami quietly reached up to touch the base of his throat, but he already knew what he would find.

The flounder charm was no longer there.

 

* * *

 

 

_Come back, come back._

_Before the mirror shatters_

_And the Beast dies._

 

* * *

 

 A/N: That story Akashi told to Furihata? Was kinda based on the story of Saika from Durarara. Pretty cool series of light novels and anime – you should check it out.

Also the poem is finished. Kudos to those who can guess the meaning of it. Even more kudos to those who can guess why Furihata is getting mixed up in all this mess.

 


	10. cheshire

_The world revolves around us like a blur._

_The sky’s gentle paintbrush wafts colours like smoke under my nose. The gentle breeze, the soundless lullaby dances nimbly on the warm rays of evening sun. You ignite in its light; you chase away the shadows; you are bright, you are bright._

_Your smile melts me like a flame burns a moth that knows it will die in its embrace. Your cradle sears through me, your touch brands me. The ashes of my cremated bones stir; the smeared stains of my blood flow and boil; your heat rekindles me and I am alive, I am alive._

_Years may pass us by and yet I will still stand here, captivated, bound to this place, to you, like gravestone marks an empty grave._

_And I-_

_I wait._

 

* * *

 

_Drip. Drop. Drip. Drop._

Black droplets like ink fell on the damp grass, their blades silently collapsing under the weight. None of them rose back up, the dark liquid clinging to them, soaking their blackness into the green blades, dragging them down, down, down.

Each black rain droplet fell from the cloud ridden sky like a bead of lead, each granting a sudden gentle death onto the leaf of dewy grass it slumped upon. There was no grace or beauty in it, it was simply…

…upsetting.

A boy coloured in monochrome stood motionless in the unsettling rain, each droplet soaking into his alabaster skin like ink would into paper. Each stain pockmarked him like a curse, but he ignored it all, his posture still, his face turned slightly towards his left.

If his wide hollowed orbits had eyes, he would appear as if he was staring upon the violent, wild waves disturbing the inky waters of the lake before him.

Black ink began to overflow in the place of his voided eyes, trailing down his cheeks uncontrollably like the tears of a sobbing child. The black tears stained his skin wherever it touched, until rolling to drip off his chin onto the grass below.

_Drip. Drop. Drip. Drop._

The boy’s mouth opened, his wisps of his voice lost to the roiling winds of the storm above and the crashing waves of the lake before him.

“------------me.”

 

* * *

 

 

“Um…where exactly are we going?”

His query ignored, Furihata sighed as he scuffed his shoes against the stone path that weaved in and amongst the overgrown grass and weeds. The sun had set long ago, leaving the three boys in near darkness as they trekked through the woods of the hills nearby the city. The brightly glowing moon up in the sky ahead was the only reason Furihata hadn’t yet stumbled or tripped over the loose pebbles and rocks jutting out.

He shivered. His thin school jumper did nothing to ward off the cold night-time winds. Akashi confidently strolled in front of him, his hands in his pockets and his stance relaxed. The back of his head resembled the colour of blood in the dim moonlight. Clutching his school bag to his chest, Furihata peered nervously back, catching sight of the third boy of their group.

Standing a full head taller than the rest of them, the ash haired boy dressed in a grey school uniform brought up the rear of their little band. Narrow grey eyes impassively stared onwards, adorning pale features. Furihata stiffened as those eyes glanced back at him, and he quickly turned his back and quickened his steps.

Objectively he knew the taller boy would be considered attractive, but for some reason the first words that came to his mind when he looked upon him was…’nondescript’. ‘Unremarkable’. Next to Akashi’s blazing personality and presence the other boy even seemed to disappear at times. The fact he made no sound whilst stepping across the scattered stones on the hiking trail didn’t really help; Furihata had already forgotten his presence countless times during their trek.

Akashi suddenly paused, Furihata nearly walking into him. Blinking, the brunette looked around. They had reached a small clearing bordered by tall, young pine trees. In the centre stood a tiny metal garden shed, looking completely out of place among the tall blades of grass and weeds infesting the area. Furihata grimaced. It was barely the size of his bedroom.

“Is…this it?”

Akashi ignored him again and tramped through the tall greenery towards the shed. Furihata clamped down on his urge to make faces behind his back and followed him wearily.

“Satsuki!” Akashi stopped a few metres from the edge of the clearing and called out, his voice ringing clear in the chilly night breeze.

The garden shed’s door inched open, from which a pink, long haired girl stuck her head out.

“Come in quickly! I’ve turned on the heater. Honestly did none of you bring any warm clothing, you look freezing. Come in, come in!”

Furihata stared in awe at her bubbly personality, completely out of place in the dark clearing among the two boys currently ranking high in his own personal ‘likely murderers’ list. For the first time since before the ghost spider lady had attacked him, a small hope lit itself in his chest. Maybe this wasn’t as completely terrifying as Akashi had made it out to be.

“What are you waiting for Kouki?”

Furihata blinked at Akashi’s voice. The redhead already stood calmly in the doorway of the shed, his half-lidded gaze unnervingly still on the brunette. Furihata nervously smiled at him and hurried inside, nearly missing the grey haired boy silently slip in behind him.

Shelves full of gardening equipment and various cardboard boxes lined the four walls of the shed, leaving a relatively small space in the middle. Four plastic chairs sat on the concrete floor there, facing a small portable gas heater, the radiator already glowing red in the dim light of the single lightbulb swinging gently from the ceiling.

The pink haired girl already sat on the edge of one chair, leaning forward with her fingers in front of her to thaw them in the heater’s warmth. Like all of them she wore a school uniform, different to the rest. Furihata realised they must all be from different high schools.

Akashi nonchalantly reclined on another chair, whereas the grey haired boy ignored both the chairs and heater to lean against one of the shelves. Furihata tentatively sat down on one of the remaining chairs, dropping his bag down next to him. A nervous smile frozen on his lips, he sat with his spine straight and his hands curled into fists on his knees.

The pink haired girl finally rubbed her hands together and looked up, a bright smile on her face. “Hello!! Furihata Kouki, right? How are you? I’m Momoi Satsuki!”

“Um…yes, hello.” His reply was embarrassingly weak next to her exuberant introduction.

“This is Akashi Seijurou, and the antisocial one over there is Mayuzumi Chihiro! Anyway I just wanted to welcome you officially to our little group. Honestly I don’t really trust Akashi to have explained anything correctly-“ Akashi gave her an aggressive grin at this point which she completely ignored. “-so, any questions?”

Furihata felt his spine relax, a tiny inch by inch. “Who…well…what exactly is it that you people do?”

Momoi gave Akashi an unimpressed look, the reprimand ‘you didn’t even tell him that?’ on her features. Akashi shrugged back, a bored look on his face.

Turning back to face Furihata, Momoi cleared her throat. “I suppose part of our work is to find people like you and make sure they’re ok.” Her rose coloured eyes stared unwaveringly at him, the intensity in them reminding Furihata strangely of Akashi. “All these ghosts you’ve encountered, although incredibly dangerous to people like you and Akashi, can’t affect normal people at all. Generally we ignore them and they us, like normal people would, but occasionally they sense your ability, in which case we need to defend you.”

She smiled brightly. “Akashi’s perfectly capable of defending himself, so it’s really just you. It’s alright though, you’re completely safe here, and will always be safe as long as at least one of us is with you.”

“Here?”

Momoi blinked. “Akashi didn’t tell you? This is our emergency hideout. No ghosts can ever come into this clearing. If you ever feel you’re in danger and can’t reach any of us, run to here. You’ll be safe.”

“I…I see.” He really didn’t.

“Mmmm, but,” Momoi leaned back on her chair, crossing her legs with a blank look on her face. The brightness of her rose eyes seemed to dim as she continued. “Protection…that’s just a secondary job. Our main purpose really is to,” A small, frightening smile inched the ends of her small lips upwards. Furihata stared, a chill tingling down his spine as an expression of serene rage graced the beautiful girl’s features.

“Ultimately, destroy the Singularity.”

An eerie, stifling silence arose, and Furihata forced himself to hold in the urge to cough. He had been foolish to think any of these people could be normal and not terrifying in anyway. What was the politest way to get out of here? He couldn’t stand this-

Momoi’s terrifying visage relaxed, and she smiled apologetically at Furihata, who could only grimace tentatively back. “The Singularity used to be a normal ghost. Or maybe it had been abnormal from the beginning, we’ll never know. Ghosts are incapable to seeing and interacting with other ghosts or any living being, and as such are normally harmless to others.”

She leaned forward again, staring blankly into the red glow of the heater. “However, the Singularity was different. Somehow it was able to see and interact with other ghosts and it,” she paused. “It began eating them.”

Akashi glanced at her before taking over. “And as it devoured more and more ghosts it grew larger and larger. By the time we encountered it last year it couldn’t be considered one ghost anymore, but rather a mass. An accumulation.” He steepled his fingers and rested his chin on them. “Maybe the original ghost initially maintained its position as the dominant personality, but after having consumed so many other ghosts and their characteristics and thoughts...well, to put it lightly,” Akashi’s red eye seemed to glint amber in the heater’s glow. “It became insane.”

Momoi smiled humourlessly. “With each ghost it ate, it grew more and more powerful. Eventually it gained the ability to not only harm other ghosts, but humans as well. To harm, and to possess.” She dropped her smile. “It was too dangerous.”

“So we attempted destroying it.” Akashi’s cheshire grin did not falter on his lips, despite the unmistakable falseness of it. “We tried, and surprisingly enough, nearly succeeded.”

“We still failed.” Momoi words cut through his easy chatter like a knife.

Akashi leaned back on his chair, his pose carefully relaxed. “Either way it’s highly weakened now. We managed to destroy most of it, and no matter how fast it attempts to regain power, it’ll never reach the kind of power it had within a year.”

A tense silence descended upon the group, and Furihata watched the silent argument (power struggle? No, it was something else…) unfold between the two.

“Um…er…” His clumsy efforts to diffuse the situation went unnoticed and he quietened down, gripping his bag to his chest. Should he just make a run for it? This was becoming unbearable.

Momoi suddenly stood up from her chair, flipping her phone open and glancing briefly at the time. A bright, easy smile on her lips, she made her way to the shed door with a bounce in her steps.

“Sorry, looks like this went on for longer than I intended. I need to go get the results from my primary investigations. Akashi will fill you in about the rest. It was nice meeting you, Furihata!”

“Ah, um yes, see…you?”

Momoi paused, before turning to face Furihata with a gentle smile. “I’m sorry Furihata. I’m sorry you were involved. But,” she opened the door, letting in the cold night time breeze that combed through her hair. With the wind blowing around her, Furihata couldn’t help but think she looked melancholic.

“It’ll be all over soon anyway.”

With a final bright grin, she closed the door behind her. Furihata gazed quietly, his mind’s eye on her last sad smile.

Was she ok? Were any of these people ok?

“Well, might as well put you to work.”

“Huh?” Furihata blinked as a broom suddenly clattered at his feet. Nervously peering up, he was faced with the image of Akashi smiling placidly as he leaned back to recline comfortably on his chair.

“You could think of this as our club space, if you will. And well, we need to keep this place clean and tidy, don’t you think?”

Furihata felt his eye twitch. He wouldn’t make him…would he?”

“Sweep up the place, newbie.”

Oh my god he would.

Grumbling, Furihata grabbed the broom and got to his feet. It would be easier to sweep without the chairs and heater, probably. Sighing in resignation, he turned off the only source of warmth in the chilly night and moved the heater to the side before beginning to stack the chairs. He turned to the one chair that Akashi sat upon. The redhead stared unapologetically back and made no move to get up.

…He’ll deal with that later then.

The floor nearly emptied, he started sweeping. “Club huh, man, I’m already charged with all the newbie jobs in basketball, to be made to this kind of stuff here too...hah.”

“That’s right; you’re part of the basketball club, aren’t you.”

Furihata flinched. How had Akashi- had he been speaking out aloud? Oh…please no.

“Haha..haha..er yeah. Only a first year though, and I only started playing this year so…I’m just a beginner.”

“Do you…find it enjoyable?”

Furihata looked up, surprised by the question. “Um, yeah, I guess. Coach tells me I’ve been improving, and well, it’s nice to know all your efforts in training weren’t in vain. And…yeah.” A small smile appeared on his lips. “Yeah, it’s fun playing.”

“…That’s good.” Akashi stared blankly at the ceiling light. A lone moth fluttered in its light, as if contemplating its suicide.

Furihata glanced at the other boy discreetly as he swept. It was such a strange reaction to his verbal slip. Did he like basketball? Did he play? Akashi didn’t really seem like the type…Akashi…wait, he’s heard that name before. 

Akashi Seijurou…Akashi Seijurou?

“Akashi Seijurou of the Generation of Miracles?”

Akashi gave a slight grin at his outburst, his red eyed gaze lazy on the brunette. “You know of me? I’m flattered.”

Furihata blushed heavily, the red bloom reaching the tips of his ears. “No- I just um- I was reading a basketball magazine and it- um, you were in it- along with the rest of the generation of miracles! Not just you! I- yeah I’ll just...shut up now.”

Akashi raised an eyebrow. “Basketball magazine?”

“Yeah, just an update on what each of you were up to after Teikou, I guess.” Furihata apprehensively continued his sweeping, hoping the other boy would drop the subject. He didn’t want to have to explain how he was kind of his fan.

“Hmm…” Akashi’s insincere grin dropped, and he leaned back to return his pensive stare to the ceiling. “It’ll probably be outdated now then.”

“What?”

“I quit basketball. “

Furihata paused, the broom stilling in his hands. He turned, dust sweeping across the cold concrete floor as he hesitantly faced the other occupant of the shed.

 “Wha…what?!”

Akashi closed his eyes. “It was foolish of me, to believe I could retain the normalcy of my life before…all of this. It was foolish of me to believe I wouldn’t have to let anything go.”        He opened his eyes again. The moth was gone. Maybe it had been repelled by the heat to live another day. Or maybe it had burned to death, its corpse swept up among the dust underneath Furihata’s broom.

“Do you understand why we fight the Singularity, Kouki?”

“…because it’s the right thing to do? Because…if we leave it as it is, it’ll continue to hurt people…?”

Akashi’s half lidded eye glowed red in the dim room as he appraised the other boy. “Is that why you are going to fight?”

Furihata avoided his gaze. “...Yeah.”

A lazy smile formed on the red-head’s lips as he leaned back to recline on his chair. “That’s good, that’s…good.” His smile slowly dropped, his feature shifting into something more pensive. “It’s far nobler than our own reasons.”

Furihata’s query was quiet. “And what are those?”

Akashi’s hand rose to gently touch his eyepatch, his red eye staring blankly into the darkness. “I failed to protect my teammates, my…friends, from the Singularity. They all suffered for that…all in different ways.” His eye closed. “I have to end it all, so they’ll never go through that again.”

“So… your reason is guilt.”

A lone crimson eye flickered back open to stare at the other boy. Furihata stood still in dim illumination of the lone lightbulb hanging from the shed ceiling, his posture oddly resolute. His eyes held nothing but a strange sense of consideration, and Akashi slowly smiled.

“…Yes, I suppose. Yes, in part I am fuelled by guilt, but not only guilt.” His smile turned humourless. “This is also my responsibility.”

Furihata stared at the other boy, silently stunned by the lingering sadness that cloaked the redhead. It looked so out of place, so wrong for such melancholy to even be in the same vicinity as the same boy who had vanquished hundreds of ghosts with a victorious, bloodthirsty smile. His fingers loosened on the broom handle, and the brunette yelped in surprise and grabbed for it as it clattered to the floor.

 A small giggle echoed within the metal walls of shed, and Furihata instinctively flinched, until he realised it was coming from the other boy. Akashi reclined lazily on his chair, a small cheshire smile on his lips as his chuckles subsided. His half-lidded gaze swung to focus on the other boy. “You’re like a nervous mouse stuck in a cage with a cat, Kouki. Are you afraid of me?”

Furihata bit his lip. “…N-no.”

“Liar.” Akashi yawned. “Well, it matters not. You only fear what you don’t understand, after all. One day you won’t be afraid…” He paused, lost in thought. “…indeed, one day I might be afraid of you instead.”

Furihata gaped. “Wh-what?”

“But well, we all know I’m not the one you should be afraid of anyway.” Akashi sat up suddenly, and beckoned to the brunette with a crook of a finger. “Shall I tell you a small secret?”

Furihata naturally stepped back, before remembering the teasing tone of the redhead’s previous words. Afraid, he wasn’t afraid! He was dealing with some kid the same age as him, not an overpowered superhero-like man who could defeat ghos- yeah ok, so Akashi was kind of both. Biting his lip, he strode to the redhead with pointedly bold steps.

Akashi simply gazed on, amused. He gestured for him to come closer, which Furihata haltingly obliged.

“The truth is…I’m not the most powerful of this small little band of ours. Do you know how we obtain our powers, Kouki?”

Furihata shook his head slowly.

The redhead smiled, close-lipped. “Each of our powers is simply something leftover from the Singularity. It’s so large and chaotic that it always leaves a piece of itself behind wherever it goes, contaminating and polluting everything around it. You and I were once possessed by it, and since then have gained the ability to see and interact with ghosts.”

Akashi’s grin grew more shark-like. “The ability to harm them however, can only be gained from surviving a wound from an attack from the Singularity. He took my eye but left me alive, and so I gained the ability to destroy. And Satsuki…” His eye dimmed, the shade appearing more burgundy, lifeless.

“If I hadn’t called the ambulance she would have died. The closer to death his attack sends you, the greater the aggressive force that stays with you. So…” The redhead’s head tilted in a disturbing parody of coyness. “How much more powerful is she than me, do you think? More importantly, how much more powerful is she right now to the current Singularity?”

Furihata blinked rapidly. “So right now…we can defeat the Singularity?”

Akashi leaned back on his chair again, flapping his hand dismissively. “Unfortunately no matter how powerful she may be, she can’t attack the Singularity with much precision until she gains the ability to see ghosts as well. In a way, you and she have opposite problems. One can see ghosts but can’t attack them; the other can attack ghosts but can’t see them. But well…” The redhead yawned again. “We have solutions for each.”

Furihata stepped back. “A-and, what might those be?”

“Yours is simple enough. Just get him to attack you and have the ambulance at hand.”

“WHAT?” The brunette’s voice broke at the end, and he covered his mouth, cheeks reddening.

Akashi smirked. “I’m joking, I’m joking. I’ll have Chihiro escort you everywhere. He should be able to keep you safe from any wandering ghosts out to devour you.”

“…that sounds suspiciously like a temporary solution.”

“You know, Kouki, the human body can survive a surprisingly greater amount of stress than you think.”

“No.”

“I have the ambulance on speed dial.”

“NO.”

Akashi sighed and gestured to the air beside the other boy. “Looks like you’ve acquired a new job Chihiro. Congratulations. It’s a difficult task in this economy.”

“Don’t address me so casually.”

Furihata screamed, the high pitch echoing in the shed as he instinctively whipped around to face the tall, grey-haired boy right next to him. Overbalancing, he fell on his face, flipping onto his back with a reddened nose within seconds.

“Mr Mayuzumi??!! Since whe-when-since when have you been here??!!”

Mayuzumi ignored him. Flinty grey eyes narrowed as he glared at the grinning sedentary redhead before him. Furihata opened and closed his mouth, finding himself unable to breach the tense atmosphere beginning to weigh heavily in the air between the two.

Akashi finally dropped his smile to impassively gaze at the taller boy. “You of all people know that your reward is near. Don’t gripe, Chihiro. Everything eventually comes to an end.”

Mayuzumi regarded him for a few more seconds, before swiftly turning on his heel and striding away. Furihata noticed his footsteps made no sound on the concrete. The grey-haired boy suddenly paused, his quiet voice echoing in the shed.

“I’ll be outside. Stop getting distracted and finish up quickly.”

Furihata watched in confusion as the taller boy quickly strode not to the shed door but to the nearest metal wall of the shed. He didn’t even slow down as he approached the grooved steel and Furihata yelped out a warning, flinching in anticipation of the loud clang that would come with the collision.

“Mr Mayuzu-“

The grey haired boy walked straight through the wall.

Furihata stared at the wall in shocked silence. His broom clattered to the floor again, but he made no move to reach for it, his arms loose as he mutely gaped.

“…is Mr. Mayuzumi…a…a ghost?”

“Well, well, there might still be some hope left for your deductive skills. What was it that gave it away?”

“...holy shit.”

“Mhmm.”

Furihata whipped around, his face pale and his hands shaking. “You said! You said they were dangerous! To me! And that they couldn’t interact with or see any other ghosts! But he did that punchy thing back in the diner! I, what? What?!”

Akashi gave him another one of his insincere smiles. “There are exceptions to every rule, I suppose. Chihiro is a very special ghost. To be more specific, an antisocial, introverted one who positively thrived in his solitary existence. As such, his personality and sanity suffered minimal changes from when he was alive. We thought it would be prudent to recruit him in our efforts.”

“But, how is he able to do the punchy thing?”

Akashi gave him a mildly unimpressed look. “I gave him the ability to interact with other ghosts. It’s a bit difficult to explain, you’ll learn eventually anyway.”

Furihata turned to gaze back at the shed wall. “…He doesn’t seem like a ghost at all.”

Akashi smiled wistfully. “Yes. Ghosts like those are…the most dangerous of them all.”

“…so he’s not going to help me with the sweeping then. That said, you’re not helping me either.”

Akashi snorted. “It’s a newbie’s job for newbies. As the newest member of our group, I’m afraid to say that you, Kouki, are the newbie.”

Furihata sighed and resumed with his sweeping. “And so? What was your solution for Miss Momoi’s dilemma?”

The redhead clicked his fingers. “Ah yes, well, her solution is a lot simpler, and though more difficult to carry out, it’s recently become infinitely less so. We need to find the Artifact.”

The brunette glanced up from his work. “Artifact?”

 “Imagine a small piece of wood carved into the shape of the ugliest flounder in the world, lacquered to shine in all its hideous glory.”

“Um…ok?”

Akashi steepled his fingers together and leaned forward to rest his elbows on his knees. “Anyone in contact with it can see and interact with the Singularity. It’s like a reduced version of our ability, with only the Singularity and not the entire ghost population. Satsuki is all for finding and using it but…” He narrowed his eyes. “I don’t like utilizing something we don’t understand. The extended side-effects are worrying…she of all people should know that…”

His quiet muttering decreased to silence, and Furihata pointedly cleared his throat. Failing to get attention, he sighed and finished sweeping all the dirt into the dustpan.  “Side-effects?” he prompted.

A dense silence lingered in the air. Furihata stubbornly ignored it and opened the bin to empty the dustpan, then apprehensively walked over to the closet to return the broom.

Akashi’s reply was so quiet that he nearly missed it.

“Four months in constant contact with the Artifact.”

The redhead’s head hung low on his supporting hands, his features darkened by the shadows of the sole dim light of the small warehouse. A lone crimson eye glowed with incensed malice, the only brightness in the dark.

“He’s in a coma now. Nothing wrong with him physically, brain scans report all is well. He just…”

The eye closed.

“He just won’t wake up.”

Furihata averted his eyes from the strange visage of grief upon the redhead before him. Nothing seemed to suit Akashi but insincere smiles and joyful sadism, everything else looked just…wrong. No, to think that in the first place was wrong of himself. Akashi wasn’t a character composed of only two traits, he was human too.

Just another hurting, struggling, victorious human being.

He made himself look again. “I’m sorry.”

Akashi lifted his face again, his catlike grin back on his lips. “Either way it’s our only viable option. As long as Satsuki uses it minimally we should be fine.”

“How are we going to find it?”

The redhead waved a finger. “That’s where you come in.”

Furihata halted in opening the closet door. “Huh?”

“We only have one example to refer to, but for the Singularity to possess someone, he needs the Artifact. Specifically he needs someone wearing the Artifact nearby. We don’t know the exact mechanisms on how the possession works. Either way,” The pale finger whipped around to point decisively at Furihata, who instinctively flinched.

“The Singularity possessed you. Today. This afternoon. Less than 6 hours ago in the Kaijou school grounds. The fact that you can see ghosts proves this. The Artifact must have been in the nearby vicinity during that time. Who was it with? Who had been wearing it? At this point we don’t know, but now we can narrow down the people it’s likely to be with. We can stop searching fruitlessly and finally obtain results.”

Furihata closed the closet door and dusted off his hands. “So…why aren’t we searching for it now, instead of cleaning up this shed- ok let’s be clear about this, you didn’t help me at-“

“We’re investigating people. Kouki. Satsuki excels at this; we can leave the initial analyses to her. Also, searching through people’s belongings is a much easier task during basketball practice in the locker room, than breaking into their houses in the middle of the night, wouldn’t you say?”

“…I see your point.”

Akashi rose nimbly to his feet as Furihata cautiously shuffled to his bag and swung it over a shoulder. Casting the small room a final glance, he flicked the light off and began feeling the wall to guide his way to the door.

Akashi spoke from somewhere behind him. “Satsuki will text you the likely suspects soon. I’ll leave you to handle Seirin, I’ll investigate Kaijou.”

Furihata nodded, before realising the other boy wouldn’t be able to see him.

“Err…so, um…so the overall plan is for us to locate the Artifact and hand it to Miss Momoi, then locate the Singularity, guide Miss Momoi to it, who will then use the Artifact, at which point she, you and Mr Mayuzumi will overpower him?”

Akashi’s small chuckle sent chills down Furihata’s spine. Unlike all the charming but pointedly untruthful laughs he had given all evening, this one felt more real. He could not see the other boy’s face, but he did not need to. Furihata knew the same vicious, disturbingly joyful smile he had seen in the 24 hour diner adorned Akashi’s features now.

“Overpower? Kouki, you’re precious.”

Furihata blinked as the shed door suddenly opened, letting in the white moonlight. Akashi stood before him in the entrance, the weak illumination strangely fitting him as much as the bright gold had hours before.

‘Ah,’ Furihata thought. ‘I was right about the smile.’

The boy’s lone crimson eye widened in the intensity of his simmering rage, and Furihata found himself pinned in its gaze in both far and wonder.

“We are going to utterly, wholly, eradicate him.”

Furihata frowned.’Him’? Akashi had been referring to the Singularity as ‘It’ before.

 “We should have done this months ago. We underestimated his vast enormity, and a fragment escaped. Now…”

The one eyed boy stepped out of the shed. Mayuzumi emerged from the darkness, his usual uncaring ash eyes oddly intent on the redhead.  Akashi half-turned to Furihata, and the brunette caught sight of an unabashed smile.

“Now we are just finishing the job”


	11. interlude 2: a boy

Once upon a time, there was a boy.

There was nothing relatively remarkable about him. He was born to a poor family of five in a tiny fishing village; and there he grew up, there he lived.

And then one day, he died.

His death was as unremarkable as his life. A small fishing accident in the nearby lake led to his drowning. He died alone, his body was never recovered, and his family never learned of what had happened to him.

But the boy existed on.

His last moments were recorded as a living memory, and the memory, unaware of the fact it wasn’t the boy, nor that the boy was dead, continued the boy’s tasks for the day. It loaded the boat with the fish it had caught in the dark morning before dawn, and as the sun rose it rowed to shore to haul its catch.

In the darkness, it never saw the pale, lifeless figure floating in the lake’s depths.

But the memory realised something strange. The closer it got to the lake’s shore the harder it became to grasp the oars or to push against the currents. And as the sun rose to light the still waters of the lake with glittering radiance, the memory became aware of something.

It was not grasping the oars at all. Instead its calloused fingers passed right through the wood.

Horrified and alarmed, the memory fumbled desperately to move the boat closer to the shore, but to no avail. Each attempt to push against the oars resulted in it falling through them, again and again, each attempt more rushed and panicked than the previous.

But nothing it did would move the boat. The vessel floated motionlessly in the mirror-like lake; neither rocking nor bobbing on the ripple-less waters. The dawn sun began to radiate its warmth upon the lake, and the memory quietly halted its fruitless struggle. The morning’s tender light thawed the old wood beneath its feet, shining through its body carelessly. There was no shadow.

Its hands shook, still freezing, still trapped in the memory of the brisk night before dawn, unable to venture forward in time with the rest of the world. The sun shone upon it and it could feel nothing but cold.

A peripheral concern gripped its thoughts, and the beginnings of hysterical laughter burst from its lips. ‘What a waste of fish’ it thought, ‘with no one to bring it back to his family for them to eat.’

It could not move the boat, it could not take the fish. With a final glum look at its haul, it hesitantly nudged its toe against the boat’s bow. The old wood offered no resistance, and the shoeless foot stepped through and out onto the water as easily as if it would pass through air. The memory stilled, its small body shaking, before its hands clenched themselves to stillness, and it continued. Its bare feet strode brusquely across the lake’s surface as if it was stone, but the memory felt nothing underneath its soles. No chill, no wetness, only the feeling of nothingness.

When it stepped onto the shore, its toes phased through the pebbles as if they were dust. It hesitated, before wordlessly continuing its trek along the dirt path to the village. The village where its mother was busy harvesting rice in the morning, where its father was with the other village men, beginning construction on the new town hall, where its younger siblings still slept, dazedly beginning to wake up to begin their chores.

The memory watched them with resignation as they went about their daily routine, not once looking up to acknowledge his presence.

‘Look at me!’ it whispered at them. ‘Tell me, reassure me I am here!’

Its little brother giggled as he played tag with the other village children, screaming delightedly as he ran straight through its torso to chase a nimble girl. The memory stared blankly down at its body, its hands trembling. Finally its eyes began to sting and a broken, quiet sob escaped its throat.

‘Look at me…please,’ it cried.

But its pleas went unheard to the laughing children.

The memory began to wander the village roads at day and returned to its family home at night. No one acknowledged or noticed its presence. Its mind seemed blank and empty as it watched the same daily routines begin again and again.  There was no purpose to its actions, but it did them anyway. Perhaps by having a routine, even as meaningless as it was, made it feel closer to the village inhabitants.

It did not notice the passage of time.

The memory watched dazedly as its youngest sister drew her last breath in her sleep, her old frail body becoming truly silent. Her children and grandchildren wept at her bedside but the memory felt nothing.

 ‘Ah,’ the memory though, ‘I am alone.’

Years, decades, centuries passed. The inhabitants of the village aged, raised their children, lived, died, again and again. The population increased; buildings were torn down and built up; new roads were tiled. The markets grew busy and crowded with the passing of every year. An outbreak of pestilence killed off a generation of children but the surviving ones grew to have their own and the town grew populated once again.

And then one day, the memory was devoured.

\-- _-no-----_

_\----stop NO-----_

\-------AhhhHHHahhhhhhhhhHHHHHAHHHhhhhhhaHHHhhhhh-------

\------mama mama where are you I’m scared----it’s so cold so cold so cold so cold so tired so tired need to keep awake can’t sleep don’t sleep----I’m sorry everyone I’m so sorry forgive me forgive please----someone somebody save me please no please stop no----eggs bread milk rice hmm do I have enough money for some candy too----I’m so hungry papa when can we eat there’s no rice there’s no beans papa I’m so hungry where’s mama----stupid bitch I’ll show you I’ll show everyone I’ll kill all of you fucking----I don’t want to die I don’t want to die why did I come here what did I come here for no no no I don’t want to die no----how how long have I been here anyone someone please come find me I don’t I don’t know how long I can----so thirsty so thirsty no no can’t drink this water it’s salt water but I’m so thirsty surrounded by water and unable to drink any of it hahaha what a way to go----well you can tell Takeshi to shove it up his ass I ain’t accepting this scam of a deal you hear me you piece of shit----

\------- who are you who are you hahahaha welcome to us welcome to me welcome to you eat eat eat so hungry hungry eat eat tastes like dust tastes like ashes eat eat-------

\----I don’t- I want- help help no air no air let me breathe please god please spirits let me live----

\------eateateat _eateateateatEATEATEATEAT------_

\-----AHHHHHHHHhhhhahhhhhhhhhhhahhhhhhhhhHHHHHHAHHHHHHHH-----

_\----LoOK At mE----_

\---- _STOP IT-----_

\-----

\-----

\------

Once---

Once upon----

Once upon a time-----

_\----“Are you an angel?”------_

Once upon a time, a ghost met a boy.


End file.
